Department for Transport

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric vehicle charging points were installed in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what recent assessment he has made of progress on the Department's plan to support the UK market to reach 300,000 public electric vehicle charging points by 2030.

Jesse Norman: Data held by the Department on electric vehicle charging devices in the UK is sourced from those installed or funded under government approved grant schemes, and from the electric vehicle charging platform Zap-Map. Charging devices not supplied via these schemes or recorded on Zap-Map are not included and the true number of charging devices will likely be higher than recorded in these figures. The below table provides the data available for (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (ii) 2022. Figures are correct as at 1 October 2022, except for Zap-Map which are as at 1 February 2023. Calendar year202020212022a.) Public charging devices (see note 1)4,2707,6008,680b.) Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme54,197115,79970,682c.) Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant sockets installed--972d.) Workplace Charging Scheme sockets installed6,25711,09311,891 The Government expects around 300,000 public electric vehicle chargepoints by 2030, as set out in the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy. The Government will focus intervention on two crucial sectors: high powered chargers on the strategic road network and local on-street charging. We will accelerate the rollout of high powered chargers on the strategic road network through the Rapid Charging Fund (RCF). The Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund will support local authorities in England to work with industry and transform the availability of local on-street charging. Table notes:- indicates data not collected as grant scheme not running in this time period 1) Zap-Map data counts charging devices publicly available at any given point, with decommissioned chargepoints removed from the data supplied to us. Therefore, the number of installed public chargepoints in each given year is likely to be higher as this accounts for the number decommissioned and removed from the data. 2) The data across these sources and the columns in the table should not be summed to create a total as the public charging device statistics and EVHS statistics count charging devices whereas WCS and EVCG counts charging sockets, making them incompatible to sum together.

Public Transport: Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided to (a) Shropshire Council and (b) other local authorities for the delivery of sustainable public transport networks in the 2022-23 financial year; and if he will meet the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham and Shropshire Council to discuss the delivery of (i) public transport and (ii) other transport plans in that area.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government has provided over £2bn in emergency and recovery funding to bus operators and Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) since March 2020 to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. This includes a further £80m, announced on 17 February, to extend the Bus Recovery Grant for a further three months until 30 June 2023. Of this funding, Shropshire County Council have been allocated over £1.1m in 2022/23. All LTAs in the same period have been allocated over £88m.The Government also provides around £250m every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant to help operators keep fares down and maintain a larger network than would otherwise be possible. £42m of this funding goes directly to LTAs every year to subsidise socially necessary bus services. Of this funding, Shropshire County Council receives £512,447. Since 1 January, the majority of single bus journeys in England outside London have been capped at £2 thanks to Government support via the Bus Fare Cap Grant. The initial phase of the scheme, through to 31 March, is backed by up to £60 million. On 17 February, we announced that we will provide up to £75 million to extend the £2 bus fare cap until 30 June 2023. The Government is also supporting LTAs to deliver improvements to walking and cycling. Shropshire County Council received £116,094 in 22/23 as part of the Active Travel capability fund. The total funding paid to LTAs in the same period was £32.9m. The Department for Transport regularly engages with LTAs and will continue to do so to support the delivery of sustainable public transport networks.

Aviation: Colour Vision Deficiency

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will consider the potential merits of introducing a practical colour vision assessment for commercial pilots.

Jesse Norman: This Government is committed to ensuring that no one who is safe to fly commercial aircraft is barred from doing so. Regarding colour vision regulations, this means being able to assess the extent of colour vision deficiency accurately, and calibrating requirements to maintain safety standards without unnecessarily penalising those with relatively mild colour vision deficiency. The CAA’s view as regulator is that the Colour Assessment and Diagnosis (CAD) test currently used provides the most accurate and reproducible assessment of an applicant’s class of colour vision. It would therefore not be appropriate to offer a wider range of tests, as the CAD is suitable to the safety requirements of UK aviation.

Motorcycles: Electric Vehicles

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the take-up of electric motorbikes.

Jesse Norman: The Government offers financial support to consumers via the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant,which helps bridge the price gap between the cost of zero emission and internal combustion engine vehicles. The grant pays for 35% of the purchase price for selected models, up to a maximum of £500 for motorcycles and £150 for mopeds. The Government continues to work with the UK industry to grow the motorcycle sector and ensure it has a prosperous future in the UK. In February 2022, the Motorcycle Industry Association and Zemo Partnership published a government-commissioned action plan, “Realising the Full Potential of Zero Emission Powered Light Vehicles”, to support the take-up of zero emission L-category vehicles. The Government has also made up to £350,000 of funding available to grow the zero-emission motorcycle supply chain in the UK.

Tolls

Mrs Sheryll Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, to ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of tolls on major routes on the users of those routes.

Mr Richard Holden: The only charge for users of the current strategic road network managed by National Highways is at the Dartford Crossing, where evidence has shown that it helps manage congestion to provide more reliable journeys for users.

Bypasses: Melton Mowbray

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made with Cabinet colleagues on the Melton Mowbray Distributor Road scheme.

Mr Richard Holden: I pay tribute to my Hon. Friend’s active and long-standing support for this important scheme to deliver the North and East Melton Mowbray Distributor Road. Officials in the Department are in close touch with Leicestershire County Council to keep them up to date with progress on this scheme.

National Highways: Planning

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with National Highways on the timeliness of responses to planning applications for which it is a statutory consultee.

Mr Richard Holden: National Highways have been working with the applicant and with the transport consultant to address questions on this development. The applicant has not yet provided National Highways with the information that they need to enable them to make a recommendation and I will write to my Hon Friend when they do so.

Department for Transport: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport is a ‘Disability Confident Leader’ in the Disability Confident Scheme which is the highest of the three levels of commitment to the scheme. In addition to taking steps such as providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process, the Department provides leadership in supporting the scheme, reports on disability, mental health and wellbeing and has undergone a rigorous validation process. The data available to the Department shows that around 10% of internal applicants since 1 May 2022 applied under the scheme, with a similar level of representation at interview stage.

South Western Railway

Chris Loder: What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the South Western Railway contract on customers.

Huw Merriman: The impact on customers is the primary consideration in the award of National Rail Contracts. Having considered all options available to us, this extension provides the best outcome for customers in the South West of England and provides a bridge towards future Passenger Service Contracts under GBR.

Shipping: Conditions of Employment

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve seafarer (a) pay and (b) employment conditions on vessels which provide regular shipping services from UK (i) ports and (ii) Freeports but fall out of scope of the measures in the Seafarers Wages Bill and are not covered by collective bargaining agreements with the maritime trade unions.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department with input from industry and maritime trade unions is developing the voluntary Seafarers’ Charter to improve working conditions for seafarers. The charter will set minimum standards for overtime pay, access to social protections and address the use of voyage contracts. Further information about the Charter and its provisions will be made available in due course. We are also looking to implement the improvements to employment conditions for seafarers that were agreed with the support of the UK at the May 2022 meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention. The amendments to the Convention include those to ensure that food and drinking water of appropriate quality is provided free of charge and that seafarers are provided with details of insurance before or during the engagement process. The Department has also supported guidelines requiring the provision of internet access to seafarers on ships in port at free or low cost and has commissioned research on this to ensure the UK remains at forefront of the global seafaring community. We are in ongoing discussions with international partners, industry and trade unions to drive forward seafarer working conditions.

Department for Transport: Public Consultation

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provides the dates of his Department's (a) consultations and (b) calls for evidence which have closed but have not been responded to.

Jesse Norman: The Department, its executive agencies and arm’s-length bodies publish a large number of consultations and calls for evidence, so collating the information requested would come at a disproportionate cost for the Department. Consultations and calls for evidence are accompanied by other forms of engagement with the public and stakeholders. The Department always aims to publish government responses to consultations in a timely fashion, in line with the Government Consultation Principles, and to keep stakeholders updated on progress.

Department for Transport: Staff

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s publication of workforce management information for the months of March and April 2022, for what reasons those months show the same figures in the seven categories for payroll staff costs, the three categories for non-payroll staff costs and the total for all staff costs.

Jesse Norman: The March 2022 workforce management information was incorrectly used to report April 2022 data. The Department has requested the publication of the correct April 2022 data and the figures will be updated by 2 March 2023.

Shipping: Freight

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of demand for shipping services from Teesport to Zeebrugge in the logistics sector.

Mr Richard Holden: The port and shipping sectors are both private, commercial sectors. Therefore, the assessment of future demand requirements of specific markets such as logistics, will be a commercial factor for relevant operators. The Department for Transport does not publish statistics at port-to-port level due to commercial sensitivity, however, statistics for UK major port freight traffic to specific countries are available in table PORT0499, accessible here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1122247%2Fport0499.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of electric vehicle charging points.

Jesse Norman: Today, the majority of electric vehicle charging happens at home. The Department expects this trend to continue. In addition, there is an extensive public charging network across the country, with over 37,600 available chargers. Government support and industry investment has seen the number of public chargepoints more than triple over the last four years. Last week, the Department for Transport announced an additional £56 million in public and industry funding for local chargepoints across the country.

Electric Vehicles: VAT

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of VAT applied to electric vehicle charging on his electric vehicle policies.

Jesse Norman: The Government has committed to keeping the transition to electric vehicles affordable for consumers across the UK. Taxation policy and its impacts are taken into consideration when developing policies that will support and accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles. Taxation is a matter for HM Treasury and the Chancellor keeps all taxes under review.

Aviation: Disability

Marion Fellows: If he will take steps to provide the Civil Aviation Authority with additional powers to sanction (a) airlines and (b) other aviation industry stakeholders for failing to meet their obligations to disabled passengers.

Jesse Norman: Air travel needs to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. That is why the Department consulted last year on whether the Civil Aviation Authority should have additional administrative powers to enforce consumer laws, and on compensation in the event of wheelchairs being damaged on UK domestic flights. Ministers are reviewing responses and will set out next steps shortly.

High Speed Two: Staff

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a breakdown of the roles undertaken by the 167 FTE staff employed by HS2 Ltd in its Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Directorate.

Huw Merriman: The majority of staff are engaged on community engagement activities along the 200 mile HS2 route, and the number of staff employed in the Directorate and handling all HS2 communication and engagement activity is a very small proportion of the 30,000 people now working on the HS2 project.

Rolling Stock

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much notice rail companies are required to give before altering the number of coaches on a train service.

Huw Merriman: Train operating companies plan the formations for their rolling stock deployment, using their available fleet to match expected demand. Planned and unplanned adjustments to this may occur for a range of reasons such as engineering works, special events, faults or failures. When making the decision to alter the number of coaches on a train service, train operating companies provide advice to customer information systems wherever possible, but there is no stipulated requirement for a discrete notice period.

Shipping: Conditions of Employment

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with maritime trade unions on the employment conditions of (a) non-European and (b) European seafarers on MS Finnpulp.

Mr Richard Holden: Ministers have regular engagement with the maritime trade unions but have not discussed the employment conditions on MS Finnpulp.

Teesport

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of seafarer jobs that were supported by each shipping activity in Teesport in each year since 2015.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department publishes statistics on seafarers nationally however these are not available at port level.

Driving Tests

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory vehicle driving re-tests on similar terms to those for HGV and public service vehicle licences.

Mr Richard Holden: The Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) believes that most people want to be safe, law-abiding drivers and any post-test intervention needs to be focused where it will achieve most benefit and, where appropriate, should be targeted against irresponsible drivers. The courts already have the powers to require drivers to retake the driving test in certain circumstances, and the police can also offer remedial education courses to those who would otherwise be prosecuted for some driving offences. All new drivers who incur six, or more, penalty points within two years of gaining their first full licence, already undergo retesting before they are allowed to drive unaccompanied.  There are currently no plans to introduce mandatory vehicle driving re-tests. If drivers do not drive for a period of time, the DVSA recommends they receive a form of refresher training.

West Coast Main Line

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how long before a planned train service is due to go ahead does Avanti West Coast know there will be a shortage of train crew.

Huw Merriman: Operators aim to understand and mitigate resource availability as far out as possible but circumstances such as training, sickness, other restrictions, and emergency releases as well as other external factors can change the position right up until the day of travel. Disruption is further exacerbated by inflexible working practices and terms and conditions, which is why workforce reforms are vital to build a better, more reliable railway for passengers.

Ministry of Defence

Astute Class Submarines: Royal Australian Navy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether crew from the Royal Australian Navy are training on Royal Navy Astute-class submarines.

James Heappey: There are currently a small number of officers from the Royal Australian Navy undertaking the Marine Engineer Submarine Officers Training Pipeline (Astute Class stream) at HMS SULTAN in Gosport. The next stages of their training are being finalised.

Afghanistan: Refugees

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of applications awaiting a decision under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.

James Heappey: Every Afghan national that applies to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme deserves and must have a response. That's why the MOD has invested and continues to invest in additional casework resource, and has implemented a bespoke casework system to better manage applications.Thanks to these steps, we are now processing and issuing decisions on more applications per month than we are receiving, and in February 2023 we issued more eligibility decisions than in any other month previously.

A400M Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Royal Air Force's Atlas C.1 A400M aircraft will receive clearance for (a) low level and (b) high altitude parachuting capability.

James Heappey: On current planning, the first clearance for low-level parachuting is anticipated in May 2023. The aircraft is already cleared for high altitude parachuting.

Maindy Barracks

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) size in hectares and (b) Housing Unit Potential is of Maindy Barracks.

Alex Chalk: Maindy Barracks is 5.6 hectares in size.No assessment has been made of the Housing Unit Potential of the site, as it has not been identified for disposal.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation: Annual Reports

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Defence Infrastructure Organisation has made annual reports for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 financial years.

Alex Chalk: The Defence Infrastructure Organisation does not make a separate Annual Report. Infrastructure is contained within the Ministry of Defence Annual Reports and Accounts for Financial Years 2020-21 and 2021-22, which are publicly available on gov.uk.

Ministry of Defence: Health and Safety

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.

Alex Chalk: The information is not held by the Ministry of Defence.

Future Combat Air System: Finance

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 150406 on Future Combat Air System, what funding his Department has provided to UK companies involved in the Global Combat Air Programme as of 27 February 2023.

Alex Chalk: As of 27 February 2023, Ministry of Defence (MOD) has provided over £1.31 billion funding to UK industry, including on research and development, to support our future combat air capability. This is in addition to MOD's internal investments and those made by industry.

Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2023 to Question 149390, on Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review, whether he plans to publish the update to the Integrated Review before the Spring Budget.

Mr Ben Wallace: The IR Refresh is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. The date of publication of the IR Refresh will be announced in due course and will align with the Spring Statement.

Boxer Vehicles

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Boxer Armoured Personnel Carriers built for the British Army are the same size as those built for the armies of (a) Germany and (b) the Netherlands.

Alex Chalk: All British Army Boxer vehicles are based on the same dimensions of the common base vehicle, which are shared with our partner Nations. Minor variations in overall dimensions between Nations occur due to the equipment integrated to the vehicle dependent on the role or capability being undertaken.

Boxer Vehicles

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many engine types the Army's Boxer vehicles are equipped with.

Alex Chalk: All British Army Boxer vehicles will be equipped with the same Rolls-Royce engine type.

Ajax Vehicles

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many complete Ajax family chassis were built by General Dynamics between December 2020 and the end of January 2023.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many complete Ajax turrets were built by Lockheed Martin between 1 December 2020 and 31 January 2023.

Alex Chalk: The number of AJAX hulls built between December 2020 and the end of January 2023 is 200. 66 turrets were built in the same period.

Attorney General

Domestic Abuse: Prosecutions

Henry Smith: To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) men and (b) women were (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted for domestic abuse in (A) 2020-21 and (B) 2021/22.

Michael Tomlinson: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds data showing the number of defendants flagged with a domestic abuse monitoring flag. These records can be separated to show the outcome of the prosecution and by the sex of the defendant. The table below shows the number of defendants, by sex, prosecuted and convicted in the two years ending March 2022. 2020-20212021-2022ProsecutedConvicted% ConvictedProsecutedConvicted% ConvictedWomen4,3543,22374.0%4,4453,24673.0%Men50,09039,30278.5%48,66337,32576.7%Data Source: CPS Case Management Information SystemThe data above is classed as management information as defendants are flagged when allegations of domestic abuse are made.

Department of Health and Social Care

Dental Services: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of funding for units of dental activity was (a) not used and (b) handed back to NHS England in the (i) 2021-22 financial year and (ii) 2022-23 to date.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Integrated Care Boards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of demand for services provided by integrated care boards on (a) elective recovery standards and (b) other long-term preventative health care programmes provided by those services.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Consultants

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on consultants for the disposal of personal protective equipment programme, including costs associated with the resolution of disputed contracts, between January 2020 and January 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Health and Safety

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Protective Clothing: Recycling

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS has sent trucks of Personal Protective Equipment to the Mitcham Waste Transfer Station for shredding.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Air Pollution: Mental Health

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study, if he will make an assessment of the consequences for his policies of links between mental health and air pollution.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Air Pollution: Health

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the paper Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS England: Thompson

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the article in the Health Service Journal entitled Branding agency hired to help cultivate new personality for NHSE, published on 7 February 2023, what the value of NHS England's contract with Thompson for work referenced in that article is; and if he will publish the interim update for senior leaders.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Menopause: Hormones

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the potential impact of testosterone levels in women on (a) normal metabolic functioning, (b) cognitive functioning, (c) mood, (d) bone and muscle strength, (e) urinary health and (f) reproductive health was considered by NICE when its guidance on Menopause: Diagnosis and Management was most recently revised; and whether NICE plans to take those factors into consideration for its next review of this guidance.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS England: Consultancy

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS England Chief Data and Analytics Office spent on consultancy work by (a) contract, (b) provider, (c) time period and (d) value in (i) each financial year since 2018-19 and (ii) the 2022-23 financial year to 24 February 2023.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Services: Consultants

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much (a) NHS England, (b) Health Education England and (c) NHS Digital spent on consultancy work on the organisational merger and headcount reduction programme; how much NHS England (i) has spent and (ii) plans to spend under its contract with PA Consulting; what the length is of the contract between NHS England and PA Consulting; how much Health Education England (A) has spent and (B) plans to spend under its contract with KPMG; what the length is of the contract between Health Education England and KPMG; and with reference to the Health Service Journal article entitled McKinsey wins £1m contract to devise new NHSE data model, published on 10 February 2023, what the value was of work contracted by NHS England has with McKinsey outside of the contract in place between December 2022 and March 2023.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Autism and Learning Disability: Health Services

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) his Department, (b) NHS England, (c) private providers of inpatient services and (d) integrated care systems are taking steps to implement the recommendations of the report by NHS England entitled Safe and wellbeing reviews: thematic review and lessons learned, published on 21 February 2023.

Maria Caulfield: ‘The safe and wellbeing reviews: thematic review and lessons learned’ report does not make recommendations but sets out important findings and learning points relevant to everyone involved in commissioning or delivering mental health community and inpatient provision. Integrated care systems have been putting in place actions to address the themes highlighted. NHS England has taken learnings from the Safe and Wellbeing Review programme to inform work to support timely discharge from mental health inpatient care and to improve the quality of care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. This includes the new Quality Transformation Programme and the refreshed Dynamic support register and Care (Education) and Treatment Review policy and guidance. The Building the Right Support Action Plan, published 14 July 2022, outlines actions we are taking to keep people with a learning disability and autistic people safe and was developed considering findings from safe and wellbeing reviews. The Action Plan includes work to check that people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health inpatient care have received a safe and wellbeing review. We will continue to work with NHS England to ensure we properly embed the report’s findings as part of our ongoing programmes of work.

Public Health England: Personal Records

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the datasets for which Public Health England is responsible for record data relating to religion.

Maria Caulfield: On 1 October 2021, Public Health England (PHE) was replaced by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Teams who were previously part of PHE transferred to UKSHA, NHS Digital, NHS England and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities within the Department. The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Immunology

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the establishment of a UK wide Predictive Immunology Network.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on the establishment of a UK wide Predictive Immunology Network.

Will Quince: The Life Sciences Vision committed the Government to delivering a Vaccines Healthcare mission which will build on the United Kingdom’s deep expertise in vaccines to strengthen the UK life sciences ecosystem. This will include maximising the opportunities to improve core immunology, vaccinology and clinical trial design, and infrastructure.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many treatments currently in the Cancer Drugs Fund were assessed under the end-of-life modifier when establishing their managed access arrangements; and how many of those treatments will now be assessed using the new severity modifier established through changes to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence methods and processes.

Helen Whately: As of February 2023, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made 52 Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) recommendations. 24 of these have had guidance updated following a period of managed access, with 92% recommended for routine funding. Of the medicines that are currently in a period of managed access within the CDF, 43% included the end-of-life modifier.NICE consider that all guidance updates, including those for managed access, are not continuations of the original guidance and are new NICE guidance. This is demonstrated by the separate reference numbers for each guidance publication. All guidance updates take place using the methods and processes that apply at the time of the evaluation. This currently includes application of a broader severity modifier in place of the end of life modifier.Analysis carried out by NICE in the development of the modifier indicates that the vast majority of cancer medicines that would be eligible for the end of life modifier would also be eligible for a weighting under the severity modifier.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 147273 on Hormone Replacement Therapy: Prescriptions, how many women are prescribed testosterone as part of their Hormone Replacement Therapy; and what assessment he has made of the impact on those women of excluding testosterone from inclusion on the Hormone Replacement Therapy Pre-Payment Certificate.

Maria Caulfield: NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) holds data for primary and secondary care prescribing that has been dispensed in the community in England. In the latest 12 months for which data is available, covering the period January 2022 to December 2022, 36,754 identifiable patients with a recorded gender of female were prescribed one or more items of a testosterone medicine. The NHSBSA is unable to provide any information whether these prescriptions were issued as part of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) treatment.Testosterone has been excluded from the Hormone Replacement Therapy Pre-Payment Certificate (HRT PPC) after careful consideration and stakeholder engagement. The decision was taken as while it can be prescribed “off label” to treat menopause symptoms, it does not have a UK Marketing Authorisation (licence) for this purpose.

Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the PANS/PANDAS Working Group statement on medical guidelines published 24 February 2023; and whether it is his policy to endorse those guidelines for use in NHS settings.

Maria Caulfield: We are aware of the recent guidance published by PANS PANDA UK. No assessment of existing policies against the new guidance has been made currently.

Eating Disorders: Hospital Beds

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult eating disorder beds there were in the NHS in each year since 2010.

Maria Caulfield: The following table shows the number of National Health Service commissioned inpatient beds for adult eating disorder services. Bed numbers can vary throughout the year as units close and new ones open. These figures are therefore the average number of beds across the year. Bed numbers for adult inpatient eating disorder beds for 2022/23 are based on the last validated data in 2021/22. The data provided is held within internal data management systems and not available publicly. NHS England does not hold reliable data for 2016 and prior.ServiceAdult eating disorder2017/183972018/193882019/204002020/214002021/224002022/23400

Arthritis: Health Services

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will tackle waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of arthritis.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for musculoskeletal conditions. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in the coming weeks to identify actions that will have the most impact.

NHS: Agency Workers

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question on NHS: Agency Workers, when he expects the information requested on expenditure on agency staff to be validated.

Will Quince: While the NHS Consolidated Accounts have been published, this does not include an explicit figure for agency spend as it is bundled together with other spend items. We expect the agency data for 2021/22 to be published this spring.

NHS: Agency Workers

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2023 to Question 121016 on NHS: Agency Workers, what estimate he has made of when the 2021-22 data will be available.

Will Quince: While the NHS Consolidated Accounts have been published, this does not include an explicit figure for agency spend as it is bundled together with other spend items. We expect the agency data for 2021/22 to be published this spring.

Cancer: Health Services

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is nationwide post-diagnosis cancer support.

Helen Whately: The NHS Long Term Plan outlines that, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care. This includes a care  plan and appropriate health and wellbeing information and support.NHS England is supporting adults experiencing cancer with access to NHS Talking Therapies (previously named IAPT) mental health services, which provide evidence-based psychological therapies for people with anxiety disorders and depression.In 2022/23, Cancer Alliances mapped out locally-driven improvements in psychosocial support provision, work which will continue in 2023/24.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to extend the temporary prescription charge freeze beyond April 2023; and if he will make a statement.

Will Quince: Prescription charges provide a valuable source of revenue for the National Health Service. Prescription charges are subject to annual review. There are no plans to extend the freeze on prescription charges beyond April 2023.

Coronavirus: Drugs

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the antiviral and therapeutics task force continues to evaluate covid-19 pre-exposure prophylaxis treatments.

Will Quince: As part of the Government’s strategy of living with COVID-19, any new medicine licensed for the prophylaxis of COVID-19 will be considered for evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in line with the established arrangements for new medicines.

Community Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of increasing funding for community provision of rehabilitative and social care.

Helen Whately: Rehabilitation and social care services play a fundamental role in reducing the impact of various health conditions, improving outcomes and increasing capacity and operational resilience.Plans are in place to increase access to rehabilitation and access closer to home. This includes the £200 million Discharge Fund to fund short-term National Health Service step-down care packages, and a commitment to access to digital rehabilitation for those who would benefit from it.Also, as set out in the ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’ published in January, NHS England, working with local authorities and voluntary and community partners, have begun to develop and pilot a new approach to intermediate care, including rehabilitation and reablement support.To support adult social care and discharge, the Government is making available up to £7.5 billion in additional funding over two years, with up to £2.8 billion available in 2023/24 and up to £4.7 billion in 2024/25.

NHS: Tomography

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many available CT scanners there are in NHS (a) hospitals, (b) Community Diagnostic Centres, (c) Targeted Lung Health Check sites and (d) all NHS settings per million of population.

Will Quince: Data collected via the National Imaging Data Collection shows that in 2021/2022 there were 581 computerised tomography (CT) scanners in National Health Service hospital settings. Within Community Diagnostic Centres, there are currently 78 CT scanners. 42 Targeted Lung Health Check sites have access to at least one CT scanner, 33 of which are mobile scanners and 10 are fixed. Not all Targeted Lung Health Check sites use 100% of capacity from a single scanner, and some mobile scanners may be shared between more than one site. We do not hold data on the number of CT scanners per million of population.

Cancer: Health Services

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people diagnosed with cancer underwent a needs assessment and were given a personalised care and support plan in (a) 2020 (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Helen Whately: Data on Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) and Personalised Care and Support Plans (PCSP) activity is reported to the National Disease Registration Service’s Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset. The data reports the number of PCSPs/HNAs reported and not the number of people who have received a PCSP/HNA. Some patients may receive more than one as their circumstances change over time.The following table shows the number of PCSPs/HNAs reported. 2020 was the first year of the new dataset, and as such data are only available from October to December. 202020212022HNA24,988119,419108,579PCSP7,02844,91541,076

NHS: Databases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether other alternative providers were considered before extending Palantir’s NHS Covid Data Contract.

Will Quince: NHS England extended the COVID-19 Data Platform contract until 11 June 2023 to support the procurement for the Federated Data Platform and Associated Services (FDP-AS) contract.The contract was executed through the Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud framework and included an option for the extension. No other suppliers were considered as this extension with the incumbent supplier is a key enabler to support the open procurement, launched on 10 January 2023, for the FDP-AS contract. This new contract will replace the current COVID-19 Data Platform provided by Palantir. It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded in the autumn of 2023.The FDP-AS contract is being procured via an open competition, in line with Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The competition is open to all suppliers and abides by all the core principles of the regulations including transparency, non-discrimination, equal treatment and proportionality. These principles apply to all suppliers who decide to bid for the Federated Data Platform and Associated Services contract and any supplier organisation can respond to the advertised contract notice and download the associated tender documents.

Department of Health and Social Care:ICT

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish his Department's guidance on Ministers' use of personal (a) devices, (b) emails or (c) communication apps for official business.

Will Quince: The Government takes matters of security very seriously, with all new Ministers receiving a general security briefing in their first weeks in Government as a priority. These cover personal, cyber, technical and information security. The Government does not comment on individual Ministers’ security arrangements.

Eating Disorders: Training

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of taking steps to improve training on eating disorders for GPs.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England is working with Health Education England (HEE) to increase access to quality training on eating disorders in primary care. HEE has developed training for primary care staff and others who encounter people with an eating disorder. General Practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge, including eating disorders, remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.In addition, we know that the General Medical Council (GMC) has taken steps to ensure newly qualified doctors must illustrate safe management of patients with eating disorders. The GMC has also been working with stakeholders to improve recognition and treatment of eating disorders including by commissioning the Academy of Royal Colleges to work with medical colleges on curricula content.

Health Services and Social Services: Ventilation

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that health and social care settings have (a) visible CO2 monitors with a regulated maximum CO2 level of 800ppm, (b) ventilation and air filtration systems and (c) an open-access online monitoring systems with a RAG score.

Will Quince: There are no plans to make an assessment on the merits of ensuring that health and social care settings have (a) visible CO2 monitors with a regulated max CO2 level of 800ppm, (b) ventilation and air filtration systems and (c) an open-access online monitoring systems with a RAG score.Guidance on ventilation and air filtration systems in NHS facilities is provided in Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 03-01: Specialised Ventilation for Healthcare Premises. As with all guidance provided on the NHS estate, it is reviewed on an ongoing basis and will be updated to reflect changes in approach to relevant areas.In terms of social care settings, Part F of the Building Regulations set minimum ventilation standards for new buildings, or when work is done to an existing building, which requires that buildings should be provided with an adequate means of ventilation. The associated guidance for non-domestic buildings states that rooms in new buildings where aerosol generating activities take place, or where members of the public are likely to gather, should have indoor air quality monitoring installed, such as CO2 monitors.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to her Oral Answer of 25 January 2023, Official Report, column 993, what steps her Department took to ensure those attending the planned meeting were representative of all those affected by mesh injury; and if she will (a) provide details of those who attended the meeting and (b) publish the minutes of that meeting.

Maria Caulfield: I attended an event to mark the launch of the Patient Safety Commissioner’s 100 days report, which some mesh campaigners also attended. I will meet with these mesh campaigners representing pelvic and rectopexy mesh again on 20 March.Ministerial meetings are published on GOV.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings

Speech and Language Therapy: Staff

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many speech and language therapists were working in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) London as of 28 February 2023.

Helen Whately: As of October 2022, there are 186 full-time equivalent (FTE) speech and language therapists working in National Health Service trusts and the central commissioning board in the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board region. There are 1,660 FTE speech and language therapists working across the four integrated care board regions which make up the London region.

Ventilators

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to stockpile ventilators to prepare for a future pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: As part of its response to COVID-19, the Government procured a large range of essential respiratory equipment, including ventilators, for use in the NHS across the UK. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) continues to maintain this Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipment reserve, which includes a range of mechanical and non-invasive ventilators. These ventilators are available to be deployed to the NHS, in the event of surges in acute COVID or respiratory cases.Learning the lessons from COVID-19, we are working with the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to ensure a flexible and capabilities-based approach to pandemic preparedness.The Government’s strategic approach to pandemic preparedness constantly evolves in response to new scientific information, lessons learned from prior pandemics, as well as responses to other infectious disease outbreaks and rigorous exercising to test our response mechanisms.

Department of Health and Social Care: Recruitment

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

Will Quince: The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing all patients with free NHS prescriptions.

Will Quince: There are no plans to make an assessment. Approximately 89% of prescription items are already dispensed free of charge and there are already a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges currently in place.

Health Services: Standards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to gather evidence for the Major Conditions Strategy; and when he plans to complete it.

Helen Whately: Following the call for evidence for a 10-year cancer plan last year, the Department received over 5,000 submissions. These responses are being reviewed and the findings will assist in the development of the new Strategy.We will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in coming weeks to identify actions that will have the most impact. Details on further engagement with stakeholders on the Strategy will be available soon.An interim report will be published in the summer, which will set out the timescale for the publication of the Strategy.

Dyspraxia: Children

Saqib Bhatti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that children and young people with dyspraxia have access to (a) occupational therapy, (b) physiotherapy and (c) speech and language therapy services.

Maria Caulfield: The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green Paper set out our proposal to commission analysis to ensure that the health needs of children and young people with SEND, including those with dyspraxia, are supported through effective workforce planning. We propose to work with Health Education England, NHS England and the Department for Education to build on existing evidence and assess demand for support for children and young people with SEND from the therapy and diagnostic workforce.The number of therapists working in the National Health Service in England has increased in recent years, but we recognise the need to improve access to therapies. It is the responsibility of individual employers, including schools and hospitals, to plan their staffing levels in line with their local service priorities. To support the supply of more speech and language therapists to the NHS, since September 2020 all eligible students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation and travel costs.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to update the medical conditions exemption list; and if he will make a statement.

Will Quince: There are no plans to do so. Approximately 89% of prescription items are currently dispensed free of charge and there are a range of exemptions from prescription charges for which those with chronic medical conditions may meet the eligibility criteria and be in receipt of free prescriptions.To support those who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges, the cost of prescriptions can be reduced by purchasing a prescription pre-payment certificate. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions required for just over £2 per week. Additionally, those on a low income who do not qualify for an exemption may be eligible for assistance with prescription charges through the NHS Low Income Scheme.

Mental Health Services

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that mental health is given the same priority in the Major Conditions Strategy as in the proposed ten-year mental health plan.

Maria Caulfield: The Strategy will cover prevention to treatment for all six conditions and we are working with stakeholders to identify actions that will have the most impact.Mental ill health will be a significant element of the new Strategy. By bringing mental ill health and other conditions strategies together, we will be able to focus on where there are similarities in approach and ensure care is better centered around the patient.

Paracetamol: Prescription Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help reduce paracetamol being provided on prescription.

Will Quince: In 2018 NHS England published guidance for integrated care boards (ICBs) on conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care. This provides recommendations on a number of minor conditions where prescribing of over the counter products, such as paracetamol, should be restricted. However, this does not include patients prescribed an over-the-counter treatment for a long-term condition such as regular pain relief for chronic arthritis.Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care and prescribers are accountable for their prescribing decisions, both professionally and to their service commissioners. Where general practitioners prescribe drugs that are widely available over the counter, we expect it to be for good clinical reasons and to represent value for money to the wider National Health Service.

Disease Control

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to learn lessons from its response to the covid-19 pandemic for future pandemic preparedness.

Maria Caulfield: The Department is committed to fully learning lessons from COVID-19, including through supporting the Inquiry process, to inform our preparedness for future pandemics. The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory (influenza and non-influenza), contact and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic.The Department, working with other Government Departments, aims to have robust, flexible, and deployable capabilities that can be adapted to outbreaks of different scales and characteristics. Sector resilience should be systemic and enable infrastructure to respond well in the event of an emergency.The UK Health Security Agency has established the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) to ensure the United Kingdom’s future pandemic responses are more effective and efficient and to reduce the negative impacts of health threats. Part of the CPP’s role will be assessing successes and issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring we learn lessons for future events

NHS England: Pay and Recruitment

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new posts NHS England has (a) established and (b) recruited to as part of the NHS75 Communications Team; at what (i) grades and (ii) salaries these posts have been established; and what the total (A) salary costs and (B) budget is of the NHS75 Communications Team.

Will Quince: NHS England have established and recruited one temporary nine month post. They are also organising a national event for 2,200 National Health Service staff, volunteers and partners. This post is graded at agenda for change band 8c £67,064 to £77,274 pro-rata for nine months.The total NHS England budget for the programme is the salary cost. Other costs will be covered by sponsorship, donations or similar income.

Palantir: Contracts

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Palantir has failed to meet in (a) part and (b) full the terms of any of its contracts with his Department since January 2020

Will Quince: The contract in place between NHS England and Palantir for provision of Foundry Services and the data management platform since 12 December 2020 has provided NHS England with the core capabilities as set out within the contract, including a core platform usage licence, Data Integration and Analytics Capabilities, Supply Management Capability, Immunisation and Vaccination Management Capability, Workforce Analytics Capability, Integrated Planning Tool and Adult Social Care Dashboard.Throughout the delivery and provision of these capabilities, NHS England can confirm that Palantir has met its obligations as set out within the terms. Throughout the life of the contract, NHS England have not had cause to utilise a Performance Improvement Plan or manage underperformance of the contract.Palantir are managed via NHS England Contract Management Framework to ensure that performance is monitored and measured, the National Health Service receives value for money, stakeholder expectations are managed, robust governance is in place, risks are actively managed and mitigated, delivery is ensured and the end user outcomes are maximised.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle misinformation on mRNA vaccines.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to tackle misinformation relating to mRNA vaccines.

Maria Caulfield: The Government takes the issue of vaccine misinformation extremely seriously. It is essential that people are able to access accurate information so they can make informed decisions about their health. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, media, social media and technology companies on innovative ways to tackle proliferation of anti-vaccine messaging, limit misinformation, promote positive messages about vaccination and ensure that reputable sources such as NHS.UK are the most prominent. The Government uses extensive and targeted multi-channel communications, using trusted voices, and sharing accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccination, informed by clinical expertise and analysis from UKHSA.Vaccines give us the best possible protection against COVID-19 and undergo a rigorous safety evaluation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. UKHSA works with stakeholders across Government to maintain awareness of misinformation narratives and promote clear and accurate public health messaging, including that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and have saved countless lives. The Government continues to liaise with international partners including the Centre’s for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization to monitor misinformation and horizon scan for both mis and disinformation that can form barriers to the uptake of public health measures in the United Kingdom, including COVID-19 vaccines.The Government is introducing the Online Safety Bill. For the first time, technology companies are going to be accountable to an independent regulator to keep their users, particularly children, safe. Under the new terms of service duties for Category 1 services, which allow users to post content online or to interact with each other and that have the largest audiences and a range of features which enable content and activity to reach large numbers of people, if certain types of mis- and disinformation including anti-vaccination falsehoods are prohibited in their terms of service, they will have to remove it.

Hospitals: Finance

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on determining the allocated capital to the eight hospitals in cohort three of the New Hospitals Programme; and when an announcement on the outcome of that determination will be made.

Will Quince: The New Hospital Programme was allocated £3.7 billion for the first four years of the programme in 2020. With any multi-year investment, further funding will be set out at future Spending Reviews. Individual funding allocations for schemes are only confirmed once the respective Full Business Cases have been reviewed and agreed, including by HM Treasury.We are working closely with all schemes in the programme, including the cohort three schemes on progressing their new hospital aligned with the national programme approach. The national approach will enable cost and time savings and transform the way we deliver healthcare infrastructure for the National Health Service through standardised and repeatable hospital designs and modern methods of construction to ensure value for money.

Vaccination

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his department will publish the Government’s Vaccine Strategy.

Maria Caulfield: Development of a vaccine strategy remains under review given the evolving understanding from the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the existing seasonal flu and the 12 national immunisation programmes.

Vaccination

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the Government’s Vaccine Strategy.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the Government’s vaccine strategy.

Maria Caulfield: Development of a vaccine strategy remains under review given the evolving understanding from the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the existing seasonal flu and the 12 national immunisation programmes.

Medical Equipment: Costs

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  whether his Department is taking steps to support UK businesses that supply the NHS with medical devices, medical equipment and services impacted by additional costs in relating to (a) production, (b) distribution and (c) energy.

Will Quince: The Department and NHS Supply Chain (NHSSC) recognise challenges faced by suppliers relating to the economic environment and global inflationary pressures. The Government and NHSSC remain committed to working with suppliers within the bounds of contractual agreements, to secure value for money for taxpayers and maintain availability. With specific reference to energy costs, the Government is dedicated to supporting businesses via the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure that eligible non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy costs over the winter period. Following an HM Treasury led review, the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme will run from April until March 2024 and continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers.

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to learn lessons from the covid-19 outbreak to increase the UK’s disease pandemic preparedness.

Maria Caulfield: The Department is committed to fully learning lessons from COVID-19, including through supporting the Inquiry process, to inform our preparedness for future pandemics. The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory (influenza and non-influenza), contact and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic.The Department, working with other Government Departments, aims to have robust, flexible, and deployable capabilities that can be adapted to outbreaks of different scales and characteristics. Sector resilience should be systemic and enable infrastructure to respond well in the event of an emergency.The UK Health Security Agency has established the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) to ensure the United Kingdom’s future pandemic responses are more effective and efficient and to reduce the negative impacts of health threats. Part of the CPP’s role will be assessing successes and issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring we learn lessons for future events.

Hospitals: Food

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish data on (a) staff and (b) patient satisfaction with hospital food; and if he will make a statement.

Will Quince: Hospital food will be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) from late 2023.We have no plans to publish data on staff satisfaction with hospital food. Through the updated NHS Food and Drink Standards we are improving the quality and availability of healthy, nutritious food for National Health Service staff, patients and visitors. This includes suitable food and drink options for staff over a 24 hours a day, seven days a week service period.

Hospitals: Parking

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential financial impact of hospital parking charges on patients who frequently attend hospital appointments.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential financial impact of hospital parking charges on NHS staff.

Will Quince: There are no plans to make an assessment. Through the Government’s manifesto commitment, all trusts that charge for hospital car parking now provide free parking to in-need groups, which include National Health Service staff working overnight, frequent outpatient attenders, disabled people and parents of children staying overnight in hospital.

Dental Services: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the dentistry budget his Department expects to be spent in 2023.

Neil O'Brien: The requested information is not yet available. NHS England provides its regional commissioning teams with a combined budgetary allocation for dental services, community pharmacy and primary care ophthalmology. This is £5.384 billion for the 2022/23 financial year. Regional commissioners and integrated care boards are developing plans within this allocation, which are yet to be finalised. Budgets for 2023/24 have not been finalised.

Dental Services: Conditions of Employment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) moving dental staff other than dentists onto NHS terms and conditions and (b) including them in the NHS pension scheme.

Neil O'Brien: The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings. As a result, pay and conditions are agreed between staff and the practice holding an NHS contract. This provides practices with the flexibility to recruit to meet local needs. The NHS Pension Scheme is an occupational pension scheme which can be accessed by staff engaged primarily in the delivery of NHS services.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Physiotherapy

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to increase access to physiotherapy services for those awaiting surgery for musculoskeletal health conditions.

Neil O'Brien: In January 2023, NHS England published, ‘An improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience’. The framework will support integrated care systems to reduce commissioned community musculoskeletal waiting times while delivering best outcomes and experience for patients. It includes defining principles, recommended actions across primary, community and secondary care and further resources.

Health and Care Professions Council: Registration

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on retention of the physiotherapy workforce of the 20 per cent rise in registration fees agreed by the Health and Care Professions Council.

Neil O'Brien: No assessment is planned at this time. Fees will remain below £120 per year meaning that the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) has the lowest fees of any of the United Kingdom healthcare professional regulators. The fee rise is equivalent to an increase of just over £1.60 per month before tax for most of HCPC’s registrants. Registration fees are tax-deductible. In recognition of the difficult circumstances registrants are facing, alongside the fee rise the HCPC also committed to implementing a series of mitigation measures.

Diabetes: Health Services

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will tackle waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of diabetes.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for diabetes and we will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in coming weeks to identify actions that will have the most impact.

Public Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help integrate public health objectives into local (a) licensing and (b) planning policies for (i) food, (ii) alcohol and (iii) other businesses.

Neil O'Brien: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on improving health and wellbeing. This includes contributions to the Levelling Up missions and in other forums where policy is of mutual interest, including integrating public health and planning and licensing.The planning and licensing systems are administered by local Government and informed by national guidance and frameworks. ‘Promoting healthy and safe communities’ is an explicit target in the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities’ National Planning Policy Framework. This framework sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these should be applied, including explicit recommendations for local authorities to foster a well-designed and safe built environment, with accessible services, open spaces, access to healthier food and appropriate facilities to encourage healthy lifestyles. The Government has also introduced cumulative impact assessments as a tool for licensing authorities to limit the growth of licensed premises in a problem area.

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of the prostate-specific antigen testing programmes; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: No recent assessment has been made. In October 2022, the National Health Service published a ‘Best Practice Timed Pathway’ for suspected prostate cancer. This sets out guidance on the use of mpMRI prior to biopsy to improve the detection accuracy of clinically significant cancer and reduce the risk of unnecessary biopsy.In the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on suspected cancer, NICE made a research recommendation on the diagnostic accuracy of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing. A number of recommendations in the guideline on prostate cancer refer to PSA levels.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to address gaps in the usage of insulin pumps between (a) people with diabetes living in the most deprived areas and (b) people with diabetes living in the least deprived areas.

Helen Whately: NHS England firmly supports and encourages local integrated care boards to adopt National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance in relation to the management of Type 1 diabetes, which includes recommended use of insulin pump.NHS England is using the Core20PLUS5 approach to support the reduction of healthcare inequalities at both national and system level. A clinical focus for Core20PLUS5 for children and young people includes diabetes.The approach targets populations living in 20% of the most deprived areas as identified by the national Index of Multiple Deprivation and identifies five focussed clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement.

Air Pollution: Mental Health

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper Association of Air Pollution Exposure With Psychotic Experiences During Adolescence, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the links between air pollution and psychotic experiences in adolescents in England and Wales.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made. However, the developing evidence on this issue is kept under review and this paper will be taken into account as part of the overall evidence base. There is ongoing collaborative work across Government to address the health impacts of air pollution.

Income Support: Disability and Local Government Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2023 to Question 133576 on Income Support: Disability and Local Government Finance, for what reason his Department has not made an assessment of the impact of the level of the Minimum Income Guarantee on (a) disabled people and (b) local authority budgets.

Helen Whately: The Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) was historically linked to Income Support and Pension Credit levels. The 2023 Local Authority Circular, published on 9 February, sets out that the rates of the MIG will be uprated in line with CPI inflation for the financial year 2023/2024.No specific assessment has been made of the impact of the level of the MIG on disabled people, but we know that changes to the MIG specifically impact those with the protected characteristics of disability and age. In reviewing the level of the MIG for financial year 2023-24, the Secretary of State therefore gave due regard to the aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty in considering that the uprating would ensure that disabled care users were not disproportionately negatively affected by the rising cost of living compared to those in receipt of other benefits.The government took into account a wide range of pressures when determining the additional funding made available at the Autumn Statement. The cost of uprating the MIG was part of this assessment of overall pressures on LAs.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Waiting Lists

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were waiting more than 28 days from referral to diagnosis in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each month between February 2020 and September 2022.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were waiting more than 62 days from urgent referral for suspected cancer to starting treatment in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each month between February 2020 and September 2022.

Helen Whately: The following table shows the data requested.The data for people waiting more than 28 days from urgent referral to diagnosis is only available from April 2021.The data for the number of people waiting more than 62 days from referral to treatment is available between February 2020 and September 2022. DateNumber of people were waiting more than 28 days from referral to diagnosis in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each month listedNumber of people were waiting more than 62 days from urgent referral for suspected cancer to starting treatment in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each month listed Total toldTotal told over standardTotal treatedTotal treated over standardFebruary 2020UnavailableUnavailable11023.5March 2020UnavailableUnavailable113.522April 2020UnavailableUnavailable5910.5May 2020UnavailableUnavailable48.516.5June 2020UnavailableUnavailable7113July 2020UnavailableUnavailable7724August 2020UnavailableUnavailable64.516.5September 2020UnavailableUnavailable9125October 2020UnavailableUnavailable83.526November 2020UnavailableUnavailable103.530December 2020UnavailableUnavailable10225 Total toldTotal told over standardTotal treatedTotal treated over standardJanuary 2021UnavailableUnavailable9225.5February 2021UnavailableUnavailable10731March 2021UnavailableUnavailable10016.5April 202111923938123May 2021121634588.534June 202112563589833July 2021110432995.526August 2021107130886.531September 2021117233094.523October 202111442738720.5November 20211308322105.530December 2021127530289.520.5 Total toldTotal told over standardTotal treatedTotal treated over standardJanuary 20221058314105.541February 202210632018924.5March 202212303078323April 2022103327776.522.5May 2022118037412850June 2022103744899.543July 202210623999134August 2022113668810230.5September 2022116961187.547.5

Heart Diseases: Medical Treatments

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the suitability of the Jena Triology heart valve; and whether he plans to make it available on the NHS.

Helen Whately: The Jena Triology heart valve obtained authorisation for placement on the United Kingdom market in 2021 and meets legal requirements for supply in the country. The suitability of the device is a clinical decision and availability through the National Health Service rests with NHS commissioned care providers.

Integrated Care Systems

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that integrated care systems support the integration of (a) policies, (b) funding and (c) workforces between health and social care sectors.

Helen Whately: The Health and Care Act 2022 set up systems and structures to reform how health and adult social care work together by putting partnership at the heart of planning. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for producing a five year joint forward plan with their partner trusts, foundation trusts, local authorities and other members. This plan should have regard to the integrated care strategy produced by the integrated care partnership (ICP). We are aware of 35 integrated care strategies that have been produced by ICPs in England.We committed in the integration white paper ‘joining up care for people and places’ to review, and where necessary simplify, pooled budget arrangements to promote further integrated funding arrangements. This review is underway.In July 2022 statutory integrated care systems (ICS) Strategy Guidance recommended ICSs take forward joint workforce planning with Local Authorities as a next step to integrated workforces.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using radio wave imaging technology, including the MARIA system, to screen people for breast cancer.

Helen Whately: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has looked at the evidence for offering extra breast screening tests, including breast density, in addition to standard mammography.So far, the committee has found that the evidence for such technologies, although promising, is not yet strong enough for it to recommend that they be introduced into the NHS Breast Screening Programme. It has not looked specifically at the MARIA system.The UK NSC continually monitors progress and remains interested in significant evidence that will allow improvements in breast screening. Any member of the public can submit a proposal to modify a screening programme during the UK NSC’s annual call.

Genito-urinary Medicine: Finance

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to join up the budgets and commissioning for sexual and reproductive health and women’s health.

Neil O'Brien: The Department has no plans to join up the budgets and commissioning for sexual and reproductive health and wider women’s health. Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services to meet local demand, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need.Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services for women’s health issues such as gynaecological conditions, maternity, or menopause as well as other health services that meet the needs of their populations. This will empower local health and care leaders to join up planning and provision of services, both within the National Health Service and with local authorities and help deliver more person-centred and preventative care.In addition, the Women’s Health Strategy for England encourages local commissioners and providers to consider adopting models of care which bring together essential women’s services, for example through women’s health hubs.

HIV Infection: Health Services

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial steps his Department is taking to (a) treat and (b) prevent HIV.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England are responsible for providing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment and care, which continues to have very high coverage and effectiveness across England. In 2021, among those with known treatment status, 99% received treatment, and 98% of those treated were virally suppressed. The Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, to work alongside local prevention activities by developing resources for populations most affected by HIV and to deliver over 20,000 HIV tests for free annually during National HIV Testing Week. Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.4 billion overall in 2022/23. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need and to commission the service lines that best suit their population. A key commitment in the HIV Action Plan published in 2021 is the investment of £20 million over three years by NHS England to implement opt-out HIV testing in Emergency Departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence.

Mental Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Major Conditions Strategy will incorporate the commitments made in the 10-year mental health plan.

Maria Caulfield: We received over 5,000 submissions to our mental health and wellbeing call for evidence, launched last year to ask the public a range of questions to help develop future plans for mental health and wellbeing in England. We have analysed these responses, and we will consider them as part of the process for developing the Major Conditions Strategy, which will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care. A joined up Major Conditions Strategy will ensure that mental ill-health is considered alongside other physical health conditions, meaning the interactions between them are reflected in any resulting commitments.

Eating Disorders: Men

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the extent of the awareness of men's eating disorders; and if he will take steps to improve awareness of the support available.

Maria Caulfield: We are aware of the research carried out by the eating disorder charity Beat which estimates that one in four people living with an eating disorder in the United Kingdom are thought to be male, and the majority of those who took part in that research felt that raising awareness would help more men to get treatment sooner.Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening conditions that can affect people of any age, gender, ethnicity or background. We know that people with eating disorders can face stigma around their disorder, which can stop them from reaching out for help and support. To support early identification, the Government recognises that raising awareness and reducing the stigma associated with eating disorders and other mental health conditions is paramount. It is good to see Parliamentarians playing an important part in raising awareness of eating disorders in men through the debates and questions in both Houses this week, which is National Eating Disorders week.

Carers: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help ensure that there is sufficient support available for carers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Maria Caulfield: The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable high-quality care and support services, including support for unpaid carers. Local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer.It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including people diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who are carers. We are supporting ICBs to expand mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, which commits to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people can get the support they need.ICBs and National Health Service trusts should have due regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline NG87: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management. This guideline aims to improve the diagnosis of ADHD and the quality of care and support that people with ADHD receive.

Veterans: South Yorkshire

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of speech and language therapists for veterans who have long-term (a) physical and (b) neurological health conditions in South Yorkshire.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many veterans in South Yorkshire were on a waiting list for speech and language therapy as of 27 February.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time for a veteran with brain damage to start speech and language therapy is.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many speech and language therapy sessions veterans with brain damage receiving that therapy receive on average in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) London.

Maria Caulfield: Veterans can and should access all mainstream services from the National Health Service available to the whole population of England. Where injury is service related, veterans can additionally access bespoke services which have been developed to meet the needs of military personnel, veterans and their families.Neither the Department nor NHS England hold any central data in relation to Speech and Language Therapy Services. While data may be held locally by integrated care boards, it would not capture veteran status or any other profession. As a result, the Department has not made any assessment on the adequacy of the availability of Speech and Language Therapy services for veterans with a long-term physical or neurological health condition.

Dental Services: Pensions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that non-dentists working in NHS dental services can contribute to an NHS pension.

Neil O'Brien: The NHS Pension Scheme is an occupational pension scheme designed for staff engaged primarily in the delivery of services in the National Health Service. Employees of NHS trusts, for example, are normally engaged wholly in the delivery of NHS services and are therefore eligible for membership.The majority of NHS dental services are contracted via a provider-performer dentist, with dental practices operating as private businesses. As a result, practices engage dental nurses and other dental care professionals as required for both their private and NHS business needs. As a result, it is difficult to identify staff as being primarily engaged in the delivery of NHS services and for this reason dental practice staff are unable to join the scheme.As part of our work to improve the use of skill mix in dental teams, we are now collecting additional data on NHS care delivered by these staff members, which will support decision making in this area should it be considered further in the future.

Sickle Cell Diseases: Prescriptions

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability of NHS prescription charges for patients living with sickle cell disease.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients with sickle cell disease meet the eligibility criteria for free prescriptions.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made. Information on the proportion of patients with sickle cell disease who meet the eligibility criteria for free prescriptions is not held centrally. Whilst sickle cell disease is not on the list of the qualifying conditions for a medical exemption from prescription charges, patients with sickle cell disease may meet the eligibility criteria for another prescription charge exemption and be in receipt of free prescriptions. Eligibility will depend on the patient's age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, whether they have another qualifying health condition, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.

Dental Services: Education

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending community dental services into educational settings.

Neil O'Brien: Community dental services (CDS) offer dental care to vulnerable patients who are referred by a general practitioner or social worker and cannot be treated in a general National Health Service dental practice or may be in locations that cannot access NHS dental services. CDS work in schools and other community settings to raise awareness of good oral health care and how this has an impact on the wider health of the population.

Department of Health and Social Care: Hygiene

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February to Question 137747, what brand of wash and dry devices have been installed within his Departmental estate; between what dates did that installation work take place; and how much did it cost.

Will Quince: There are 14 Dyson wash and dry devices installed within the Departmental estate. Installation of new wash and dry devices within the Departmental estate took place in April 2020 at a cost of £15,368.

Protective Clothing: Storage

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many units of personal protective equipment purchased by the Government are in storage in warehouses in the United Kingdom; and what the cost to the public purse is of that storage on average in January 2023.

Will Quince: On 30 December 2022, there were 6.6 billion items of personal protective equipment stored in warehouses and supplier storage in the United Kingdom, which in January 2023 would have cost £319,000 a day to store, on average.

Fibromyalgia: Research

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of new research published on the treatment of fibromyalgia in the last two years.

Will Quince: No specific assessment has been made.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations and guidance for the health and care system. NICE guidelines are developed by experts based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with stakeholders. NICE maintains surveillance of new evidence that may affect its published guidance and would consult on proposed changes with a wide range of stakeholders if significant new evidence was to emerge.

NHS: Protective Clothing

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2023 to Question 104233 on NHS: Protective Clothing, if he will list the (a) consultancy and (b) legal firms which were contracted as part of the personal protective equipment programme.

Will Quince: Consultancy firms contracted by the Department as part of the personal protective equipment programme are:4C Associates Ltd;Accenture UK Ltd;Atamis Ltd;Bramble Hub Ltd previously Bramble CC Ltd;BSI Standard Ltd;Chanzo Ltd;Clarion Interpreting Ltd;Deloitte;Efficio Ltd;Ernst And Young;Global Connections (Scotland) Ltd;Insight Executive Group;Prestige Network Ltd;Pricewaterhousecooper LLP;The Kings Fund;Velindre NHS Trust; andMcKinsey and Co Inc UK.Legal firms contracted by the Department as part of the personal protective equipment programme are:Burges Salmon;TLT;DAC Beachcrift; andPinsent Mason.

Health Services: Long Covid

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending sick pay support for healthcare staff with long covid.

Will Quince: The Department introduced temporary non-contractual COVID-19 sickness guidance at the start of the pandemic, to ensure National Health Service staff received full pay should they be advised to self-isolate or become ill with COVID-19.As we learn to live with COVID-19, we have withdrawn this temporary non-contractual COVID-19 guidance. Staff who were on COVID-19 sickness pay have moved back to the normal terms and conditions (T&Cs) sickness arrangements. The NHS T&Cs pay up to six months full pay and six months half pay, depending on length of service. The Department has no plans to assess the potential merits of extending sick pay support for healthcare staff with long COVID-19.

Epidermolysis Bullosa: Medical Treatments and Research

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to provide funding for research into drug repurposing for the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide funding for research into treatments for epidermolysis bullosa in 2023.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with epidermolysis bullosa have access to adequate support through the NHS.

Will Quince: The Department funds research mainly through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The usual practice of the NIHR and other research funders is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of health or care research, including research into treatments, and repurposing of drugs for any condition, such as Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). These funding applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.Since 2019, the NIHR has funded three studies into EB with a total award value of over £4 million, and supported the delivery of more than 25 studies via the NIHR’s infrastructure.The multi-agency Medicines Repurposing Programme identifies and progresses opportunities to use existing medicines in ways not included in the current licence. The work includes horizon scanning for trials in rare diseases such as EB. While NHS England is not aware of the repurposing of any drugs for EB, NHS England is working with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the evaluation of two products for EB, birch bark extract for skin wounds and the gene therapy Beremagene geperpavec.NHS England commissions a national service for patients with EB from four expert centres. The service is commissioned in line with a published service specification and aims to provide diagnosis and assessment of infants, children, adolescents and adults with suspected or known EB along with treatment and long-term support.

Immunosuppression: Coronavirus

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to recent letters sent from the NHS to individuals deemed to be at higher risk from covid-19, what criteria the NHS used to determine which individuals should receive that advice.

Will Quince: The Department commissioned the Independent Advisory Group to identify a set of patient conditions based on who is at the highest risk of an adverse COVID-19 outcome, particularly hospitalisation and death.

NHS: Pay

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on industrial relations and service provision of the 3.5 percent pay increase recommendation to the NHS Pay Review Body for 2023-24, set out the department's evidence document of 21 February 2023.

Will Quince: The Government hugely values our National Health Service staff and as set out in the NHS Public Review Body (NHSPRB) evidence for 2023/24, have committed to give them a pay rise in the next financial year. In July 2022 the Government accepted in full the NHSPRB recommendations for 2022/23 and backdated all pay uplifts to 1 April 2022. We recognise that global economic headwinds are putting household budgets under additional pressure this year. The Government will talk to all unions who are willing to discuss what is fair and reasonable recognising the vital role public sector workers play but also the wider economic pressures facing the United Kingdom. Ultimately, the Pay Review Bodies will consider the evidence submitted by Government alongside other evidence and base their recommendations on several factors including the economic context, cost of living, recruitment and retention, morale, and motivation of NHS staff.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will respond to Question 137846 tabled on 1 February 2023 by the hon. Member for Ilford North.

Will Quince: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 February 2023 to Question 137846.

Health and Care Professions Council: Registration

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he intends to advise the Privy Council to reject the Health and Care Professions Council decision to increase their registrants’ fees by 20 per cent.

Will Quince: The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is independent of Government and is funded by its registrants’ fees on a cost recovery basis. The HCPC has concluded its consultation on the proposed fee rise and its Council has agreed to seek parliamentary approval for increasing annual registration fees by £19.62 from 1 July 2023. The proposal is subject to the affirmative parliamentary process in both the Westminster and the Scottish Parliaments.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Maternity Services

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many maternity support staff were employed by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent maternity support staff for the last three years working at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust October 2020October 2021October 2022Maternity support staff594555Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022Maternity support staff have been defined as all support staff that work in a ‘maternity services’ and ‘neonatal nursing’ care setting. This includes nursing associates, nursery nurses, nursing assistants/auxiliaries, healthcare assistants and support workers.Due to the merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in 2020 consistent data can only be given from that point onwards.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Pay

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many senior managers in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust earn over £100,000 a year.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the salary bands are for the (a) Joint Chief Executive, (b) Chief Operating Officer – Hospital Services, (c) Chief Operating Officer – Neighbourhoods, Mental Health and Families, (d) Chief Nurse, (e) Chief Medical Officer, (f) Chief Finance Officer and (g) other members of the senior leadership of the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust for the 2022-23 financial year.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much Somerset NHS Foundation Trust spent on management consultants in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: Owing to data protection reasons, individual salaries cannot be disclosed without the individual’s consent. Salaries of directors are published in annual reports in £5k bands. NHS England provides pay guidance for very senior managers at Foundation Trusts which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/guidance-on-pay-for-very-senior-managers/Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is classified as an ‘extra-large’ acute provider and that Foundation Trusts hold statutory power over pay.The Department cannot comment on individual trusts and does not hold the information required.

Midazolam

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) with reference to NICE guideline NG163, published 3 April 2020, by what process that guideline was commissioned, (b) by what processes the NHS decided to procure Midazolam for use in patient care, including end-of-life care and (c) by what process the NHS decided on the quantity of Midazolam it would procure in each of the last four years.

Will Quince: The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline NG163 published in 2020 was commissioned in accordance with an established agreement between NHS England and NICE. The focus at that time was given to providing rapid guidance on the management of affected patients with COVID-19. A number of NICE’s COVID-19 rapid guidelines were incorporated into a single guideline for the management of COVID-19 in children and adults (NG191).During the pandemic there was an increase in demand for, and consequently in the United Kingdom’s purchase of a number of medicines, including midazolam, to support the care of COVID-19 patients in intensive care and at the end of life. National Health Service purchasing decisions are made by individual trusts against national procurement frameworks. Volumes are calculated based on their forecast consumption.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Capital Investment

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much capital investment for new build was invested in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in the 2021-22 financial year.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much capital investment for (a) changing and (b) improving existing buildings was invested in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in the 2021-22 financial year.

Will Quince: £35.9 million in national capital funding was allocated to Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in 2021/22. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust received a total £24,194,000 in 2021/22 towards two hospital upgrade schemes, an Acute Assessment Hub (£7,908,000) and Theatre reprovision scheme (£17,096,000). Schemes involve new builds and changing and improving existing buildings.The new hospital scheme at Musgrove Park Hospital for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is in Cohort 4 of the New Hospital Programme. Cohort 4 schemes will benefit from knowledge and experience gained from previous builds, as well as standardised designs enabling the best use of digital technology, sustainable buildings, and modern methods of construction.Up to the end of 2021/22 the New Hospital Programme provided a total of £3.428 million in funding for the scheme. In 2020/21 the Trust received £1.5 million and in 2021/22 the Trust received £1.928 million. With respect to wider capital, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust received £1.7 million from the Targeted Investment Fund for estate works in 2021/22, including Oral Maxillo-Facial, Plastics and Dental Service expansion, and £2.7 million from the same fund for digital initiatives in the same year. In addition to this, the Trust also received £4.1 million for Community Diagnostics Hubs. £1.3 million for miscellaneous capital schemes, e.g. investment in diagnostics and cyber security. In addition to the national funding, the trust received £24.5 million in operational capital in 2021/22.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency: Staff

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in each year since April 2015.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency from April 2015.YearNumber of staffApril 20151161April 20161203April 20171270May 20181297April 20191243April 20201225June 20211300December 20221086

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Doctors and Nurses

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent doctors and nurses and health visitors for October 2020 to October 2022, working at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. October 2020October 2021October 2022Doctors691728745Nurses and Health Visitors1,9632,1412,248Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022Due to the merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust earlier in 2020 consistent data can only be given from that point onwards.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Doctors and Nurses

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were recruited by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the headcount of doctors and nurses and health visitors that joined active service at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust for the last two years. October 2020 to 2021October 2021 to 2022Doctors (excluding junior doctors)6548Nurses and health visitors420326Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022This data includes people returning to active service, such as those returning from maternity leave or career breaks. It is the count of staff who were active in the trust at the end of the period who were not active at the start of the period. Due to the merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in 2020 data can only be given for the last two annual periods. Junior doctors are excluded from the table above as it is common for junior doctors to move between NHS bodies on placements/rotations as part of their training and development. The figures will not include staff joining doctor or nursing grades from other positions within the organisation.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust: Managers

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many managers have been appointed in the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust since the end of 2019.

Will Quince: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the headcount of managers and senior managers that joined active service at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust for the last two years. October 2020 to 2021October 2021 to 2022Managers35Senior Managers02Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022Due to the merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in 2020 data can only be given for the last two annual periods.This data includes people returning to active service, such as those returning from maternity leave or career breaks. It is the count of staff who were active in the trust at the end of the period who were not active at the start of the period. The figures will not include staff joining manager grades from other positions within the organisation.

Public Health: Equality

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to use epidemiological data in the development of the Government's levelling up policies.

Will Quince: The Government is committed to supporting individuals to live healthier lives, and at the heart of this is improving access to and levelling-up health and care across the country. As well as healthcare, it is vital that we work with partners across Government and beyond to address the wider causes of ill health and the health behaviours that we know impact on the conditions that are most likely to make people unwell.The Department has a wide-ranging programme, working with partners across Government and the system to improve the health of the population and reduce the risk factors for ill health. The Department does use epidemiological data to inform its policies.

NHS: Staff

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of pressures within the NHS on the welfare and mental health of NHS staff.

Will Quince: It is a priority for this Government to support the welfare and mental health of all National Health Service staff as they continue to work in challenging circumstances.The NHS People Plan and People Promise set out a comprehensive range of actions to strengthen health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and increase opportunities for flexible working. NHS England is supporting a range of health and wellbeing initiatives, including a wellbeing guardian role to support boards and leaders in prioritising healthy working environments, empowering line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their wellbeing, and a comprehensive emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support package.NHS staff can access NHS Practitioner Health, a national support service for staff with more complex mental health needs brough about by serious issues such as trauma or addiction.

Nurses: Higher Education

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase the number of people studying nursing in higher education.

Will Quince: The National Health Service has launched its fifth consecutive national recruitment campaign ‘We are the NHS’ to inspire people to consider a career in healthcare and increase applications for healthcare courses, including nursing.The Student Loans Company provides the primary funding support package for students in further education. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, this is a conscious investment in the skills and people of this country. Eligible nursing students also have access to a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year plus additional grants and supports depending on their circumstances.The Government continues to widen access to nursing careers through blended learning and apprenticeship routes. We now have a complete apprentice pathway for nursing, from entry level to postgraduate advanced clinical practice.

Fibromyalgia: Health Services

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on proposals for a review of (a) treatment and (b) guidance on best practice for patients with fibromyalgia.

Will Quince: The Department has had no such discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).NICE published its guideline on primary and secondary chronic pain in over 16 years old in April 2021. The guideline makes recommendations on pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments of chronic primary pain, including fibromyalgia, which is classified as a type of chronic primary pain. The full recommendations are available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193/resources/chronic-pain-primary-and-secondary-in-over-16s-assessment-of-all-chronic-pain-and-management-of-chronic-primary-pain-pdf-66142080468421.NICE has no plans to update the guidance at this time, however their surveillance programme ensures that its published guidelines are up to date by exploring if there is any new evidence to contradict, reinforce or clarify the recommendations it makes.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficacy of the testosterone products licensed in England in enabling consistent and accurate self-administration of the dosages typically needed for Hormone Replacement Therapy in women and (b) potential merits of licensing testosterone products specifically designed to dispense these dosages.

Will Quince: Testosterone products in the United Kingdom are licensed in various pharmaceutical forms including solution for injection, capsules and gels. All of these products are licensed for use in men only. No such product is currently licensed for women, however should such an application be received, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will review the benefits and risks with regard to quality, safety and efficacy.

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Bristol North West

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of Hormone Replacement Therapy NHS services available in Bristol North West.

Maria Caulfield: No assessment has been made. Menopause care for patients who may be taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) products is a matter for local decision. This includes menopause services.With regard to the adequacy of supply, information is not held at a local level but there are over 70 HRT products available in the United Kingdom. There have been supply issues with a small number of these, but those issues have been resolved or are being managed following action taken by suppliers and the Government's use of Serious Shortage Protocols to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow alternative products to be dispensed, as necessary.

Air Pollution: Health

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study, if he will make an estimate of the costs of air pollution to the (a) NHS and (b) UK.

Neil O'Brien: In 2018, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published an estimation of the potential health burden and costs to the National Health Service and social care system arising due to diseases related Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).Between 2017 and 2025, the total cost to the NHS and Social Care from air pollution in England is estimated to be £1.60 billion for PM2.5 and NO2 combined (£1.54 billion for PM2.5 and £60.81 million for NO2), where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease; where the evidence is less robust the cost is £2.81 billion for PM2.5 and £2.75 billion for NO2.

Ambulance Services: Expenditure

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2023 to Question 148785 on Ambulance Services: Expenditure, for what reasons his Department does not collect that information; and whether he plans to do so.

Will Quince: The commissioning of private ambulance services is a matter for local National Health Service commissioners and trusts. There are no plans for the Department to centrally collect such information.For accounting purposes, the Department collects financial information from its arm’s-length bodies, including NHS England to the extent that this is required for the purposes of producing the consolidated Annual Report and Accounts (ARA). The expenditure on private ambulance services is not, and is not expected to become, an individually material category of spend in the context of the ARA, and therefore is not collected as a standalone item.

Leader of the House

Delegated Legislation: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Patrick Grady: To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of  23 February, Official Report column 329, if she will review the procedures for scrutiny of delegated legislation in this House.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is fully committed to a strong parliament that effectively scrutinises legislation. However, the procedures and processes of the House, including those for the scrutiny of legislation, are ultimately a matter for the House and any change should be carefully considered, often following the recommendations of the Procedure Committee. Should the Procedure Committee choose to look further at the scrutiny process for delegated legislation, the Government will of course consider any recommendations carefully.

Department for Education

Education: Working Conditions

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the National Education Union on the working conditions of teaching and associated staff in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: The Department’s Ministers and officials have been regularly meeting with the National Education Union (NEU), other unions and representative bodies to discuss the working conditions of teachers and associated staff. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education wrote to the NEU, inviting them to build on the constructive discussions that have taken place in recent weeks and move into formal talks on pay, conditions and reform to resolve the current trade dispute. It is disappointing the NEU has refused this serious offer and has not called off strikes.

Air Pollution: Young People

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact on air pollution on young people in education.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not made an assessment on the effects of air pollution on pupils. The Department is aware, as reported in the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2022, that air pollution can affect children’s lung development, asthma, development problems, wheezing and coughs among other health effects. This report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124738/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-air-pollution-dec-2022.pdf.The Department is collaborating with other Government Departments and several academic institutions on air quality projects. The School Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education project was initiated, with funding and support from the Department to understand the air quality in UK schools. The findings from these projects will inform our guidance and standards for school buildings.In 2018, the Department published Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), establishing guidance for school design on ventilation, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality. This guidance sets out the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines and Air Quality Standards Regulation 2010 for indoor air quality. BB101 requires the indoor environment of new or refurbished school buildings to be monitored by recording temperature and levels of carbon dioxide.

National School Breakfast Programme

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have (a) submitted applications for and (b) been successfully enrolled in the National School Breakfast Programme.

Nick Gibb: In November 2022, the Department extended the National School Breakfast Programme for an additional year until the end of the summer term in 2024.The Department is concentrating funding of up to £30 million in this programme overall. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment and wellbeing. Schools are eligible for the programme if they have 40% or more pupils from disadvantaged households, as measured by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. As of March 2022, 3,907 applications from eligible schools had been received. In November 2022, 2,170 schools were participating on the programme.

Primary Education: Assessments

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the final report of the Independent Commission on Assessment in Primary Education.

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to implement the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Assessment in Primary Education.

Nick Gibb: I refer the hon. Member for Rochdale to the answers given on 21 February 2023 to Questions 141618 and 141619.

Business: Training

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has any plans to improve incentives for businesses to invest in skills training.

Robert Halfon: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The government is clear that employers have a key role to play in the skills system, and it is important for supporting the country’s productivity and addressing skills gaps that employers invest in skills training.The government is taking steps to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future, so that skills training is aligned to the needs of employers. The department is embedding employer-led apprenticeship standards, driving qualification reform to ensure technical qualifications are high-quality and establishing employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans.These reforms intend to give employers a greater role in the skills system so that they can invest in skills training with confidence.

Young People: Carers

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of young carers there were in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) London and (c) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Claire Coutinho: Information on the number of young carers is not currently held by the department. Data is now being collected via the Spring school census for the first time from all state-funded schools in England to identify whether a student undertakes caring responsibilities at home. This will increase young carers visibility in the school system and provide an annual data collection to help identify long-term trends.Data is also collected relating to young carers via the Children in Need census. When a child is assessed as being in need of children’s social care services, social workers will record factors that are relevant to that episode of need, with ‘young carer’ as one of those possible factors. The recorded factors are published annually in the statistics release ‘Characteristics of children in need’ which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need.The following link contains data for 2017/18 to 2021/22 for Lewisham, Inner London, London and England (figures at parliamentary constituency level are not available) where ‘young carer’ was identified in episodes of need: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d0e547fd-650c-4144-947e-08db08498a11. It should be noted that not all episodes have factors recorded, but this has improved over time. Nonetheless, there can be differences in the recording practices between local authorities, therefore this data should be treated with a degree of caution. In addition, not all young carers will be children in need so these figures represent an undercount on the true number of young carers.

Department for Education: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Nick Gibb: The Department is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) leader, achieved through investment in a range of actions to support staff who have disabilities.This includes programmes to help support career progression (including ‘Beyond Boundaries’, a cross-government development programme and ‘Power of Choice’, an internal development programme) and actions specific to recruitment, (such as guidance to ensure the language in job adverts avoids creating extra barriers and automatic interviews for those who reach the minimum pass mark at sift).Data on the number of internal candidates who have applied under the scheme and progressed in a recruitment is below. 20212022Number of internal applicants who applied under DCS414702Number of internal applicants who applied under DCS and on promotion who were invited to interview162 (39%)199 (28%)Number of internal applicants who applied under DCS and on promotion who were promoted64 (15%)68 (10%)

Organs: Donors

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making elements of the national curriculum relating to organ donation compulsory; and of extending those requirements to primary schools.

Nick Gibb: The science National Curriculum allows opportunities to teach about organ donation and schools can choose to cover this topic through the biology curriculum at Key Stage 4. The National Curriculum is compulsory for Local Authority maintained schools and is often used as a benchmark for academies.Whilst organ donation is not a compulsory subject at primary level, schools can talk about it more generally, in an age appropriate way, as part of the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, which includes content on physical health and mental wellbeing.As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and should use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.The Department is reviewing the content of the RSHE statutory guidance, looking at areas of the guidance that need to be strengthened and will consult publicly over proposals, with a view to publishing revised statutory guidance in 2024.

Teachers: Men

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded primary schools in England did not have a male teacher in each of the last five years for which school workforce data are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers by gender in each school, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Ministry of Justice

Alternatives to Prison

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to implement the reforms to the adult out of court disposals framework in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Damian Hinds: Implementation of the changes to adult Out of Court Disposals (OOCDs) set out in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 requires public consultation on a draft code of practice that covers the use, administration, and scrutiny of the revised framework of cautions. We are working towards finalising this draft code and will set out next steps on the consultation timetable in the coming weeks. The Government will consider the representations made, publish a response to those views, and finalise the Code of Practice. We do not want to prejudge the breadth or focus of the representations we receive, and the Government’s response to them. We will confirm the implementation date for the revised framework after the consultation process is complete.

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Danny Kruger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the replacement programme for the suspended Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme in June 2022 will be implemented; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the likelihood that perpetrators of domestic abuse who have not joined a new programme are still able to have regular contact with their victims before course completion.

Edward Argar: The Government is actively considering options to address the current lack of Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes in the family court. We are working with providers and the domestic abuse sector to explore interim arrangements, including potential new referral mechanisms, ahead of developing a revised model of support for domestic abuse cases in the family court. The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration in any decision made by the court regarding child arrangements and the Government is working closely with stakeholders across the system to understand the impact the current change in provision has had on children and families. A timetable for the introduction of the new domestic abuse intervention offer will be confirmed in due course. The Government has introduced a number of protections for survivors of domestic abuse in the family court. The Domestic Abuse Act prohibits cross-examination of victims by perpetrators and provides automatic eligibility for special measures for victims of domestic abuse in the family courts. The Act also makes it clear that ‘barring orders’ are available where further proceedings would risk causing harm, particularly where proceedings could be a form of continuing domestic abuse

Ministry of Justice: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice is a Disability Confident Scheme Leader and operates at Level 3; the highest level a department can be accredited at. As required under the Scheme, MoJ operate a Disability Confident Interview Scheme. Candidates with a disability have an option to opt-in and out of the scheme, which is in place for all advertised roles and applies to all candidates, including those internally in MoJ and Civil Service applying on lateral transfer or on promotion. Unfortunately, the MoJ does not currently analyse application data on Disability Confident candidates specifically applying for promotion and lateral transfer opportunities. In order to retrieve the data as requested, we would need to perform a matching process between monthly staff records and application data. The data covering the MoJ would be a substantial amount to review and would therefore exceed the appropriate cost limit.

Judiciary: Pensions

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, whether he plans to (a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the (i) Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) Regulations 2017 and (ii) the Judicial Pensions (Fee Paid Judges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

Mike Freer: The Secretary of State for Justice is presently considering implications of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill for the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) Regulations 2017 and the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, and the options available to him. In that context the Secretary of State is mindful of historic pension entitlements. For service after 31 March 2022, fee-paid judges have accrued pension entitlements in the new JPS22 Pension Scheme which is unaffected by the Bill.

Administration of Estates

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to take steps to action the application for letters of administration under case reference 1656578944616 in respect of a death on 4 June 2022; and for what reason this application has not yet been actioned.

Mike Freer: The Probate service contacted the applicant on the 28 February to clarify the extra information that was required to resolve the outstanding query. Cases can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant or where cases are complex. HMCTS has recruited, and is in the process of training, additional staff to reduce waiting times and is continually improving the digital service to reduce the number of applications which need to be queried.

Prisoners' Release: Marriage

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been granted temporary release from prison to get married in each of the last five years.

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been granted temporary release from prison to get married in each of the last 12 years.

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of breaches of Release On Temporary Licence when individuals are given temporary release for marriage in each year since 2010.

Damian Hinds: We are unable to answer this question within cost limits.By providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties, temporary release from prison helps ensure offenders don't return to crime when they leave prison. Evidence shows the vast majority abide by their temporary release conditions, with the compliance rate standing at well over 99%. Non-compliance is, and will continue to be, dealt with robustly.Prisoners wishing to marry in prison must apply to the prison governor for permission. The governor will make a decision based on a risk assessment of the prisoner and proposed venue. Depending on risk factors, the application may be refused, or the prisoner may be given permission to marry either in prison, outside the establishment under a security escort, or outside the establishment on ROTL.Only Category D prisoners are routinely allowed to marry outside a prison and the prisoner must meet all associated costs of a marriage ceremony or civil partnership registration.

Offenders: Rehabilitation

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse of the Justice Data Lab was in its first three months of existence.

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people worked in the Justice Data Lab in its first three months of existence.

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people work in the Justice Data Lab.

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost has been of the Justice Data Lab.

Damian Hinds: The Justice Data Lab evaluates the impact of interventions on reducing reoffending and provides organisations with a robust assessment of their effectiveness. The data requested is shown in the table below:Approximate cost of the Justice Data Lab in the first 3 months of its existence, April 2013 (based on median salary per grade including National Insurance and pension contributions). Rounded to nearest thousand.£39,000Number of people who worked in the Justice Data Lab in its first 3 months of its existence3Number of people who currently work in the Justice Data Lab6Approximate cost of the Justice Data Lab since its introduction in April 2013 (based on median salary per grade including National Insurance and pension contribution). Rounded to nearest thousand.£2,646,000

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Armenia: Azerbaijan

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Azerbaijani counterpart on the anniversary of the Khojaly massacre; and whether he plans to make a statement to mark that anniversary.

Leo Docherty: The events of February 1992 were a tragic episode in Azerbaijan's history, and were strongly condemned by the UK Government at the time. Such hostilities should never take place again. The UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan laid a wreath at the memorial in Baku on 24 February. In recent engagements with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on 22 February and Armenian Foreign Minister on 18 January, I [Minister Docherty] reinforced the need for constructive negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to secure stability and peace in the region.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 126658 on Refugees: Afghanistan, how many of the 11,400 expressions of interest were rejected because of (a) ineligibility and (b) information was missing from the form; and whether applicants whose forms were missing information were given the opportunity to clarify and resubmit their applications.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 126658 on Refugees: Afghanistan, how many expressions of interest have yet to be reviewed.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 126658 on Refugees: Afghanistan, when her Department began reviewing expressions of interest.

Leo Docherty: FCDO launched an online system on 20 June 2022, closing on 15 August 2022, for individuals to express interest in UK resettlement under Pathway 3 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) in its first year. Details were widely communicated and the Expression of Interest (EOI) form was translated into Dari and Pashto. The EOI form was designed to have all mandatory fields populated and could not be submitted with missing information. FCDO began processing EOIs on 21 June 2022. We are assessing eligibility and notifying those who submitted an EOI of the outcome. We will update Parliament on numbers once all EOI processing is complete and we have assured data to share.

Armed Conflict: Women

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect women and girls in international conflicts.

Leo Docherty: The Foreign Secretary and Minister of State for the Armed Forces [James Heappey] launched the UK's new National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security on 23 February 2023.The UK's fifth National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security sets out the government's approach to reduce the global impact of conflicts on women and girls, by ensuring our diplomatic, defence and international development work directly addresses their needs. It focusses on 12 countries where the threats to women and girls are currently most acute, including Ukraine and Afghanistan.

UK Government Information Cell

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government Information Cell has been instructed to collect information on (a) sitting MPs, (b) former MPs, (c) political activists and (d) political organisations.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government Information Cell has collected information on any (a) sitting MPs, (b) former MPs, (c) political activists and (d) political organisations since it was established.

Leo Docherty: The Government Information Cell (GIC) was established in February 2022 to support the UK's response to Russian disinformation relating to their invasion of Ukraine. The GIC is focused on advising on and delivering output to expose and challenge the Kremlin's lies. The GIC monitors Russian disinformation. The GIC is neither instructed to, nor does it, collect information on any of the referenced groups mentioned by the Hon. Member.

Global Disinformation Index

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2023 to Question 149420 on Global Disinformation Index, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Global Disinformation Index funding is only spent on activities outside the US.

Leo Docherty: Grant agreements between FCDO and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) related to this project clearly specify the regions in which activities funded by FCDO will take place. I [Minister Docherty] can again confirm that FCDO did not fund GDI activity in the USA. GDI provide formal quarterly performance reports to FCDO and there are frequent informal contacts between GDI and our programme managers.All FCDO programmes and projects comply with appropriate HMG programme management, commercial and financial rules and guidance, including monitoring and evaluation of project performance. I can confirm that the FCDO's GDI project complies with these rules.

Development Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the (a) transparency and (b) accountability of development spending while updates to (i) Development Tracker and (ii) International Aid Transparency Initiative are paused during January and February 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO remains committed to Aid Transparency, which we confirmed in our response to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) Review of Transparency, published in 2022. The implementation of new systems has required that we pause publication of the FCDO's monthly programme data to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and the Development Tracker (DevTracker) website. These systems must be fully integrated in order for FCDO to resume our regular publication of programme data. As soon as the system changes have been successfully completed and the systems enable effective publication, FCDO will resume publication of new data and documents (within the next four months). This will include publication of historic data and documents for the period of the pause. Other government departments continue to publish throughout this period - and the FCDO has and will continue to publish programme documents to IATI and DevTracker, including business cases, annual reviews and programme completion reports, on a monthly basis for programmes which are already being reported on.

Pakistan: Animal Welfare

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with her counterpart in Pakistan on the treatment of performing bears.

Leo Docherty: HM Government remains focused on delivering the Action Plan for Animal Welfare published on 12 May 2021. The Action Plan for Animal Welfare demonstrates the Government's commitment to animal welfare, both at home and abroad, and also provides a foundation for conversations on how we can improve animal welfare and conservation in the future. The UK Government has previously raised the welfare of animals at Islamabad Zoo, including the welfare of two bears, with the Government of Pakistan. The UK Government is also at the forefront of international efforts to protect endangered animals from poaching and illegal trade.

Afghanistan: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Afghanistan.

Leo Docherty: We condemn the Taliban's abuse of human rights and their disregard for the fundamental freedoms of Afghans. In October 2022, we co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution, extending UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett's mandate to monitor human rights in Afghanistan. Since April 2021, we disbursed £515 million in aid to Afghanistan, in support of the most vulnerable. We worked with the World Bank to make over $1 billion in the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund available for health, education, livelihoods, and food security. UK, with other governments, urges the Taliban to respect the civil and political rights of the Afghan people.

Conflict Prevention

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent atrocities; and if he will make a statement on the 31st anniversary of the killings in Khojaly in Azerbaijan.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to mark the 31st Anniversary of killings in Khojaly on 26 February 1992.

Leo Docherty: FCDO established a Mass Atrocity Prevention Hub in September 2022; the Hub is supporting FCDO teams to embed atrocity prevention work and build capability, including on monitoring and risk assessments. The UK Government remains committed to supporting efforts to secure positive relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and continues to work through bilateral channels and multilateral fora in pursuit of that goal. In recent engagements with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on 22 February and Armenian Foreign Minister on 18 January, I [Minister Docherty] reinforced the need for constructive negotiations between the two states. The events of February 1992 were a tragic episode in Azerbaijan's history, and were strongly condemned by the UK Government at the time. Such hostilities should never take place again. The UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan laid a wreath at the memorial in Baku on 24 February.

Malta: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Malta.

Leo Docherty: The UK Government welcomes Prime Minister Abela's commitment to further strengthening civil and political rights in Malta. These commitments include enhancing media freedom protections, and strengthening the rule of law. The Foreign Secretary signed a new UK-Malta Bilateral Cooperation Framework on 10 February that underscores the UK's commitment to work with Malta on a range of related interests. This includes supporting the Maltese Government's plans to act on the recommendations of the inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Whilst in Malta, the Foreign Secretary also met Daphne Caruana Galizia's family to discuss progress on the protection of Media Freedom globally.

Brazil: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Brazil.

David Rutley: The UK is clear about the importance of accountable democratic institutions, the rule of law and the safeguarding of human rights. The Foreign Secretary discussed the importance of these issues with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on 17 February. The UK has a deep and longstanding relationship with Brazil based on shared commitments to human rights, democracy and the rule of law and we look forward to working with President Lula and his government to further strengthen our cooperation, including on civil and political rights in Brazil.

Belarus: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Belarus.

Leo Docherty: The human rights situation in Belarus has deteriorated further in recent months as the Belarusian authorities continue to systematically target political opponents and their supporters, independent media, and civil society. At the Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe, the UK has frequently addressed the human rights situation in Belarus, delivering statements and co-hosting events focussing on accountability for human rights violations and showing solidarity with human rights defenders in Belarus. We continue to work on accountability measures, including through the International Accountability Platform for Belarus which has been taking a survivor-centred approach to gathering evidence of human rights violations in Belarus since 2020.

British Nationals Abroad: Detainees

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on British nationals detained overseas.

David Rutley: HMG provided consular assistance in 3745 new cases of arrest or detention abroad in 2022. We tailor the consular assistance we provide to British nationals who have been arrested or detained abroad depending on their specific circumstances. This includes raising individual cases with the relevant overseas authorities, including at Ministerial level, where appropriate.

Bahrain: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Bahrain.

David Rutley: The FCDO published our assessment of the human rights situation in Bahrain in the annual FCDO Human Rights and Democracy Report, in December 2022. Bahrain remains a FCDO Human Rights Priority Country and we continue to engage regularly, privately and effectively across a range of areas with the Government of Bahrain.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2021

British International Investment

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much of the £200 million allocated to British International Investment (BII) in 2022-23 has been delivered to date; and how much will be allocated to BII in the 2023-24 financial year.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: British International Investment's (BII) investment plans cover the period of its new five-year Strategy 2022-2026. As the sole shareholder, the Government has committed to continue to support BII including through delivery of BII's strategy. We have allocated £289.5 million in 2022/23 to support BII's capital investments. We will ensure that our funding is invested where it will have maximum impact and delivers most value for money. FCDO is currently undertaking a business planning process for future years. No decisions on individual budgets have been taken yet by Ministers. Further details will be provided through the established approval process and meet FCDO transparency requirements.

Dominic Raab

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November to Question 88787 on Dominic Raab, of how many formal complaints about the conduct of the Rt. Hon. Member for Esher and Walton his Department holds records.

David Rutley: I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to my [Minister Rutley] answer of 29 November.The FCDO treats all complaints of this kind confidentially, including correspondence with the Propriety and Ethics Team. Information regarding an investigation into formal complaints about the conduct of the Rt. Hon. Member for Esher and Walton is set out in the investigation Terms of Reference, available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/terms-of-reference-investigation-into-formal-complaints/terms-of-reference-for-the-investigation-into-formal-complaints-about-the-conduct-of-the-deputy-prime-minister-htmlThe FCDO holds records of two complaints, dated 15 November and 22 November 2022.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

David Rutley: I [Minister Rutley] am the Ministerial Disability Champion for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

China: Human Rights

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with British business representatives in (a) mainland China and (b) Hong Kong on China's human rights record.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We are committed to supporting UK businesses to engage with China in a way that reflects UK values. Last year we issued new guidance to UK companies on the risks of doing business in Xinjiang, introduced enhanced export controls and committed to introduce financial penalties for organisations that do not comply with modern slavery reporting requirements. UK-listed companies operating in Hong Kong are required to cover relevant human rights issues as part of their annual corporate reporting.

Ukraine: Armed Conflict

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held recent discussions with the Indian Government on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Foreign Secretary and senior officials regularly raise Russia's actions in Ukraine with Indian counterparts. He did so by telephone with his counterpart in early February and again in person this week in Delhi. Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine is a clear breach of international law and the UN Charter, which India has long stood for. He has underlined that India also has a particular opportunity as rotating chair of the G20 to ensure a strong and consistent message on this issue.

Syria and Turkey: Earthquakes

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to support children who have been orphaned as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK responded immediately to provide life-saving support to people in Turkey and Syria. On 15 February, the UK committed a package of support to address the urgent humanitarian needs including £25 million in new overseas aid to fund emergency relief. The UK has committed £5 million match funding to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to support British aid organisations, which now exceeds £101.5 million. DEC Members such as Save the Children have supported children in Turkey and Syria in many ways such as providing psychosocial support for children experiencing trauma, reuniting children with families where possible and creating safe spaces for women and children.

Syria and Turkey: Earthquakes

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help protect children in Turkey and Syria following the earthquake.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK responded immediately to provide life-saving support to people in Turkey and Syria. On 15 February the UK committed a package of support to address the urgent humanitarian needs including £25 million in new overseas aid to fund emergency relief. The UK has committed £5 million match funding to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to support British aid organisations. DEC Members such as Save the Children have supported children in Turkey and Syria in many ways such as providing psychosocial support for children experiencing trauma, reuniting children with families where possible and creating safe spaces for women and children.

Disaster Relief

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what advice his Department provides to (a) UK search and rescue NGOs and (b) other specialist UK NGOs seeking to provide emergency deployment to assist with overseas disasters, such as the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February 2023; and whether there have been any changes in how his Department coordinates NGOs seeking to provide emergency deployment to assist with overseas disasters since the abolition of the Department for International Development.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: FCDO engages regularly with NGO partners through a range of forums. On Thursday 9 February I [Minister Mitchell] met with a group of NGOs who are providing humanitarian aid to those impacted by the earthquake to understand their assessment of urgent needs on the ground.The UK International Search and Rescue team deployed to Turkey on 7 February and worked around the clock to rescue people trapped under the rubble. The team have now completed rescue operations and returned to the UK. The UK committed an additional £4.3 million from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, to aid the White Helmets major search-and-rescue operations in Syria. We have published guidance on GOV.UK to advise people on how they can best provide support to the earthquake response.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/turkey-and-syria-earthquakes-what-you-can-do-to-help

Côte d'Ivoire: Embassies

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to increase his Department’s (a) presence and (b) resources at the British Embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK has a strong bilateral partnership with Côte d'Ivoire and is committed to deepening cooperation across shared priorities including trade, development and security. In February 2023, the British Ambassador facilitated a UK trade mission to Abidjan. The previous ministers for Africa visited in 2021 and 2022 to progress mutual objectives on climate and inclusive economic growth and to promote the UK's presence. Resource allocation to the British Embassy in Abidjan is regularly reviewed as part of FCDO's business planning processes. In 2023, the Embassy will enhance its visibility and accessibility including through a new and improved office location.

Developing Countries: Water

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to increase access to clean water globally.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Improving access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is a FCDO global health priority, forming a core part of the UK's approach to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children. Since 2015, the UK government supported over 60 million people to gain access to clean water and/or sanitation. Our support to Sanitation and Water for All reinforces water sector leadership, accountability and collaboration in over 70 countries. Through engagement in the G7, the G20, UN summits and the WASH in Healthcare Facilities Taskforce we ensure WASH is included in efforts to prevent future pandemics and to reduce anti-microbial resistance.

Developing Countries: Maternity Services

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether following the publication of the document entitled Ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030 on 14 December 2021 his Department identified a champion for that strategy.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: I took on the role of Ministerial Champion for Ending Preventable Deaths (EPD). The Champion role will galvanise global action on EPD through partnerships with partner and donor governments. It will help promote UK academia, and public-private partnerships around research, technology and products that will contribute towards improving survival rates of women, babies and children.In January, I hosted a roundtable event to strengthen collaborative efforts between FCDO, Parliamentarians and civil society. Next month, I [Minister Mitchell] will take part in an international event the UK is co-chairing alongside the US, UNICEF, India and Senegal on EPD.

Developing Countries: Maternity Services

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what flagship countries his Department has identified for implementation of the Ending Preventable Deaths Approach Paper; and what progress his Department has made on implementation of the Paper.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We have identified eleven potential flagship countries: Bangladesh, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia and South Sudan. We are conducting bottleneck analysis to determine how best the UK could support accelerated action on EPD.Since the paper was launched, other progress includes: pledging at least £1.5 billion to improve nutrition for mothers, babies and children; £1.65 billion to GAVI's immunisation work; £15 million to support the Global Financing Facility for women, children and adolescents; and £1 billion to the Global Fund, helping to prevent deaths from HIV, TB, and malaria.

Somalia: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Somalia.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government assesses that civil and political rights in Somalia are under serious threat. We welcome the Somali government's commitment to political and constitutional reform and urge them to establish an independent human rights commission and progress key legislation. This includes reforming the 2020 Media Law to enable the press to report freely and independently. The UK coordinates with international partners and lobbies the Government on press freedom and the arrests of journalists. We provide training to journalists and security forces on media freedom issues. Somali elections do not always ensure universal suffrage and we are supporting the government to develop a more representative electoral system. The Somali justice system faces significant challenges and traditional dispute resolution methods often fall below international standards. There are reports of arbitrary detention across Somalia.

Cameroon: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Cameroon.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK continues to monitor civil and political rights in Cameroon. I [Minister Mitchell] reiterated the importance of rule of law and human rights to Cameroon's Minister of Defence in January 2023. The British High Commission raised media freedom and the death of the journalist Martinez Zogo with the Cameroon Deputy Foreign Minister in February 2023 and has publicly condemned the torture and killing of journalists in Cameroon. The UK also welcomes the Human Rights Watch 2023 report on Cameroon, which detailed the crackdown on political opposition.

Israel: Palestinians

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the situation in Huwara.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, set out the UK's concern at the scenes of abhorrent violence in Huwarra in his statement of 26 February. The UK also condemned in the strongest terms the retaliatory incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinians, and stresses the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population. As Lord Ahmad stated on 26 February, the deadly cycle of violence must end.

Abdullah al-Huwaiti

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he raised the case of Abdullah al-Howaiti with his Saudi counterpart during his visit to Riyadh last week; and whether he has called for al-Howaiti’s release following the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in his case.

David Rutley: Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country, in part because of the increased use of the death penalty. The FCDO is carefully monitoring the case of Abdullah Al-Howaiti. The Minister responsible for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised the case on multiple occasions with the Saudi authorities, most recently in December 2022. During his visit in February, Lord Ahmad discussed a range of human rights issues, including the death penalty. We will continue to monitor and raise the case of Abdullah Al-Howaiti.

Oman: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of (a) civil and (b) political rights in Oman.

David Rutley: The UK draws on a range of sources when assessing human rights. Our close relationship with Oman allows us to discuss important issues such as civil and political rights. Where the UK has cause for concern, we raise it privately at official and Ministerial level, including during Lord Ahmad's most recent visit to Oman in December 2022.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Julia Lopez: Minister Andrew is the Ministerial Disability Champion at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Football: Regulation

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she expects the proposed independent regulator for football to be established.

Stuart Andrew: We recognise the need for urgent action to safeguard the future of football clubs throughout the English football pyramid, so will legislate to put the regulator on a statutory footing as soon as Parliamentary time allows.As the White Paper makes clear, the Government is actively exploring establishing a shadow regulator ahead of legislation, to ensure that both the statutory regulator and regulated clubs can hit the ground running.

UEFA Champions League Final 2022 Independent Review

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the independent investigation of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final; and if she will make a statement.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with UEFA on implementing the recommendations of the independent review of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final for future fixtures.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with her French counterpart on the independent review of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final.

Stuart Andrew: The Government has always been clear that an independent investigation was needed to establish what happened on the night of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final.In consultation with the Football Association, the Government is in touch with UEFA to understand how it intends to respond to the review and press for timely action in responding to the specific recommendations which have been set out in the report. We will reflect on the lessons which can be learned from the investigation to inform planning for the UEFA Champions League Final in 2024 at Wembley, as well as our UK and Ireland bid to host EURO 2028.The Secretary of State will be meeting the French Sports Minister in the coming weeks to discuss the French Government’s response to the independent review further, alongside other issues.

Charities: Lotteries

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) charities, (b) homelessness charities and (c) children's charities that experience funding limits due to charity lottery annual sales limits.

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to protect charity income limits from charity lotteries.

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department will review the potential merits of raising charity lottery limits.

Stuart Andrew: I greatly appreciate the importance of society lotteries as a fundraising tool for charities and other organisations. Society lotteries are a vital source of funds for these organisations, raising around £400 million a year.In 2020, we legislated to raise the annual sales limit for large society lotteries from £10 million to £50 million. Each charity with a society lottery licence is therefore able to sell up to £50 million of tickets per year. Most society lottery operators have sales well within this annual limit, meaning there is plenty of scope for them to continue to grow. After taking account of any prizes and administrative costs, charities and other good causes are able to retain a large percentage of this revenue, currently averaging 46% of total sales.We reviewed the society lottery sales and prize limit increases 12 months after they were implemented, concluding that it was too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of these changes. The results of this review were published in March 2022, and found that no individually licensed society lottery has sales close to the £50 million limit, with only one umbrella operator benefitting from a further annual increase. We keep this under review with the Gambling Commission.

Broadcasting

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of when digital terrestrial (a) TV and (b) radio will no longer be required; on what evidential basis she has made that assessment; and whether she plans to take steps to gather further data.

Julia Lopez: The Government remains committed to the future of digital terrestrial television (DTT), the technology underpinning the popular Freeview platform.The Government has legislated to secure continuity of digital terrestrial television until at least 2034. We will, however, continue to assess and evaluate the future distribution of television as the sector evolves over the next decade, and we have asked Ofcom to undertake an early review on market changes that may affect the future of content distribution before the end of 2025. This review will form our evidence base for future long term decisions for the period after 2034.The report of the joint government and industry Digital Radio and Audio Review, published in October 2021, considered in some detail the future of radio given changes to the wider media landscape and the rapid growth of online audio listening.The Review, which gathered a wide range of research and other evidence, concluded that broadcast transmission (particularly DAB) is likely to represent a significant proportion of radio listening for the foreseeable future.The Government passed legislation in April 2022 to enable Ofcom to renew the two national commercial digital radio multiplex licences until December 2035.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Self-harm and Suicide

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many completed customer declaration of intention to attempt suicide or self harm forms related to (a) risk of suicide,(b) risk of self-harm, (c) both and (d) neither.in each of the last five years.

Guy Opperman: This information is not collated centrally.

Social Security Benefits: Self-harm and Suicide

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the customer declaration of intention to attempt suicide or self harm form was completed in each local area in the last year.

Guy Opperman: This information is not collated centrally.

Social Security Benefits: Self-harm and Suicide

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times a customer declaration of intention to attempt suicide or self harm form has been completed in each of the last 5 years.

Guy Opperman: This information is not collated centrally.

Social Security Benefits: Self-harm and Suicide

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many completed unacceptable customer behaviour forms mentioned suicide or self-harm.in each of the last five years.

Guy Opperman: Due to how the information is obtained, it is not possible to get accurate data regarding how many completed unacceptable customer behaviour forms mentioned suicide or self-harm as requested.

Social Security Benefits

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the data used to inform the review of the Benefit Cap carried out under S96A of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

Guy Opperman: There are no plans to publish the data used to inform the review of the Benefit Cap levels carried out under S96A of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

Universal Credit: Self-harm and Suicide

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has undertaken an analysis of references to (a) self-harm, (b) suicide and (c) other serious harms within the journals of Universal Credit applicants.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether references to self-harm, suicide or other serious harms within customers’ journals are routinely flagged.

Guy Opperman: Journal messages that may indicate a danger of such harms are flagged to operational colleagues to help them to respond in an appropriate and timely manner.

Universal Credit

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is possible to conduct a text search across universal credit journals..

Guy Opperman: Yes. It is possible to conduct a text search.

Universal Credit

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Written Statement of 27 February 2023 on Additional Jobcentre Support – Pilot rollout, HCWS582, whether he has made an assessment of the ability of claimants to travel to 10 one to one job centre appointments within in a two week period.

Guy Opperman: The criteria for participation in Additional Jobcentre Support was developed following an Impact Assessment, to ensure that claimants can attend these appointments. Our Work Coaches will continue to tailor support based on the claimant’s needs and the eligibility criteria set for the pilot. The Flexible Support Fund can assist with travel costs.

Universal Credit

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of how many Universal Credit claimants have had their weekly work search hours reduced as a result of undertaking voluntary activity.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not available.

Social Security Benefits: Uprating

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to uprate benefits annually in line with prices and living standards.

Guy Opperman: Successive Governments have used the Social Security Administration Act 1992 which places a statutory duty on the Secretary of State to review the rates of State Pension and benefits each year, following a review of trends in prices and earnings over the previous year. The Secretary of State’s review ahead of 2023/34 has been completed and State Pensions and benefits will rise by 10.1% in April 2023, in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index in the year to September 2022.

Training

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have participated in training opportunities through DWP Train and Progress in each month since the initiative was announced.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of people who have accessed training opportunities through DWP Train and Progress (a) once, (b) twice and (c) three or more times.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of participants in his Department's Train and Progress scheme who subsequently (a) entered and (b) progressed in employment.

Guy Opperman: We do not collect data on claimants who access extended training provision.

Universal Credit

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential effect of (a) increasing the child element of Universal Credit by at least £15 a week and (b) ending the benefit cap on levels of children living in poverty.

Guy Opperman: No. It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of the impacts of increasing the child element of Universal Credit and ending the benefit cap on the numbers of people in low income.

Universal Credit

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Written Statement of 27 February 2023 on Additional Jobcentre Support – Pilot rollout, HCWS582, whether claimants will be reimbursed travel costs for the one to one job centre appointments they are asked to attend in a two week period.

Guy Opperman: Claimants can request to be reimbursed for additional travel costs to Jobcentre appointments, over and above their weekly/fortnightly attendance, during the two-week period of intensive support. This follows usual processes.

Sector-based Work Academy Programme: Expenditure

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on delivering sector-based work academies in each of the last five years.

Guy Opperman: Spend was not separated from the wider Jobcentre support offer and is not available for the years 2017-21 For the financial year 2021/22, the spend was separately identified for part of the year and totalled £8.0m based on internal Activity Based Management (ABM) data.

Universal Credit

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the Administrative Earnings Threshold of Universal Credit on people with health conditions.

Guy Opperman: The Department has completed an Equality Analysis for the AET.

Pensioners: Cost of Living

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of recent rises in the cost of living on people receiving a pension whose pensionable service before April 1997 is not linked to inflation due to the terms of the Pension Protection Fund.

Laura Trott: The information required to carry out such an assessment is not readily available and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

State Retirement Pensions: Terminal Illnesses

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of enabling people of working age with a terminal illness to have early access their state pension.

Laura Trott: There are no plans for discussions with cabinet colleagues regarding early access to state pension for people with a terminal illness. Hearing that your illness cannot be cured can be a frightening and devastating experience. For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2022 to Question 88884 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how much was waived in each of the 25 instances of a discretionary waiver being applied.

Tom Pursglove: The overall value of the 25 cases referenced in Question 88884, equates to £234,396.46.Waivers are only granted in exceptional circumstances, typically where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship. More information on the waiver process can be found at Chapter 8 of the department’s Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide: Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms, and has a well-established process to support them to manage their debts. Anyone struggling with their repayment terms is encouraged to contact the department to discuss a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Tom Pursglove: I was appointed as the Ministerial Disability Champion for DWP.I will work with the other Ministerial Disability Champions appointed in each Government department to represent the interests of disabled people and drive forward progress on disability policy across government.

Department for Work and Pensions: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing compulsory disability pay gap reporting.

Tom Pursglove: There are no current plans to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting. In November 2018, we published a Voluntary Reporting Framework, aimed at large employers (with over 250 employees), that recommends that they publicly report on disability employment and mental health and wellbeing. The framework can also be used to support smaller employers who are keen to drive greater transparency in their organisation or industry. Whilst we recognise the merits of disability reporting, we would not propose to extend this to pay gap reporting due to the risk of dis-incentivising employers from recruiting more disabled people.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Hunting: Animal Welfare

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to tackle trail hunts causing the death of foxes.

Trudy Harrison: The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law.  The government recently passed the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, providing one of the toughest sanctions in Europe and strengthening the UK's position as a global leader on animal welfare.  This strengthened penalty sends a clear message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated and will enable our courts to take a firmer ap-proach to cases of animal cruelty.

Deposit Return Schemes

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement a deposit return scheme.

Rebecca Pow: In the next phase of DRS implementation, we will be finalising the legislation, taking necessary steps to ensure it will work in practice. The legislation then needs to go through the necessary clearances, before it can be laid in UK Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. We are aiming to have the regulations complete by the end of 2023.

Recycling: Fees and Charges

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres.

Rebecca Pow: We will publish the Government response to this consultation as soon as possible.

Lighting: Pollution

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for  Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about the impact of light pollution on insect populations; and what steps the Government is taking to reduce light pollution in (a) urban, (b) suburban and (c) rural areas.

Trudy Harrison: Artificial light offers valuable benefits for safety and amenity. Defra has worked with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution on local amenity, dark landscapes and nature conservation. Our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty have some of the best dark skies across Great Britain and attained some of the earliest designations in Europe. Seven of our parks have secured protected dark sky status and we are committed to conserving and celebrating this wonderful experience for all. Defra has funded or co-funded national and international assessments of drivers of change on insects and wider biodiversity such as the global IPBES Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production. This report notes the effects of artificial light in general on nocturnal insects may be growing. HM Government has not made any specific assessment of the impacts of light pollution or changes in spectrum on insect population trends. We will continue to work closely with researchers, NGOs and across HM Government to improve our understanding of the impacts of light pollution Protecting insects is a priority, and we are taking action to support them and the wider natural environment of which they are a vital component. Our legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 underlines our ambition.

Property: Flooding

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the liability of developers for the flooding of properties built since 2009.

Rebecca Pow: Local Planning Authorities can, subject to legal tests, apply conditions to a grant of planning permission. These can be used to secure specific flood mitigation measures where these are necessary to address particular issues identified as part of the application process. With regard to flood risk, local planning authorities need to undertake consultation with the Environment Agency on development, other than minor development, which is proposed to be carried out in areas of high risk of flooding and give reasons where they go against Environment Agency advice to refuse the application. In August 2022, the Government published significantly updated planning guidance on flood risk and coastal change to help councils to take climate change into consideration and make more informed decisions on whether a new development should go ahead. In December 2022, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities published a consultation on reforms to national planning policy. The Government will undertake a full consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework once the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill has completed its passage through Parliament.

Agriculture and Planning

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report of the Countryside Charity Building on our food security, published in July 2022, if her Department will (a) consult on and (b) publish a national land use strategy that provides an integrated framework for local policy- and decision-making on planning and farming.

Trudy Harrison: We have committed to publishing a Land Use Framework in 2023 to help us strike the right balance between a range of priorities, including development and farming. We are working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and other departments in preparing it. We will set out any plans for consultation and the details of any interactions between the Land Use Framework and the planning system.

Rhinoceros: Sub-Saharan Africa

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make estimate of the number of rhinos in sub-Saharan Africa.

Trudy Harrison: The UK Government does not undertake its own assessments of rhinoceros populations. The African Rhino Specialist Group, part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, collects rhinoceros population statistics and analyses trends. Recent population estimates were submitted to the 19th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which took place in November 2022.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Trudy Harrison: I was appointed as the Ministerial Disability Champion for Defra. I will work with the other Ministerial Disability Champions appointed in each Government Department, to represent the interests of disabled people and drive forward progress on disability policy across government.

Home Office

Home Office: Health and Safety

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.

Miss Sarah Dines: Details of Government contracts above £10,000, are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.

Asylum: Hotels

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken steps to claim back VAT paid on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office doesn’t directly pay for hotels for asylum seekers and therefore doesn’t claim back VAT.

Refugees: English Language

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish (a) reports published by and (b) minutes of any meetings since January 2019 of the Migration and Border Analysis Home Office Science Group which relate to the investigation into the benefits and merits of early intensive language courses for refugees, as referenced in the ad hoc query of 29 January 2019 to the European Migration Network made by the UK EMN National Point of Contact.

Robert Jenrick: We recognise that the ability to speak English is key to helping refugees integrate into life in England, as well as to breaking down barriers to work and career progression. Home Office officials explored an early intensive language offer as part of a wider investigation into English language support for refugees. Exploration of the intensive offer was paused to avoid duplication with the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) for Integration Fund (EFIF) launched by the Department for Levelling Up in August 2020. EFIF supported one of the key commitments in the 2018 Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper by supporting individuals to be able to meaningfully integrate and participate in society boosting English language proficiency. The programme trialled a new approach to funding ESOL, adopting a localised place-based design, providing community-based English language sessions, social mixing clubs and activities to individuals with little or no English. In the same period, the Home Office funded the development of English language teaching resources to support refugees with their early integration.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2023 to Question 126658, how many of the remaining places on Pathway 3 in Year one will be (a) filled and (b) carried over to Year Two.

Robert Jenrick: Under Pathway 3, in the first year, up to 1,500 places will be offered to eligible at-risk British Council contractors, GardaWorld contractors, and Chevening alumni in Afghanistan or the region. This includes their eligible family members.This route was open for expressions of interest between 20 June and 15 August 2022. We received over 11,400 expressions of interest which have had to be assessed individually.The FCDO are assessing eligibility and communicating decisions on eligibility in principle to those who submitted an EOI. To date, over 1000 of the 1500 places available in the first year of Pathway 3 have been allocated, subject to security checks.   If an individual is offered a resettlement place in the first year but is unable to travel, we will honour the commitment to resettle them to the UK [subject to completion of the necessary checks] up until the end of the Scheme.

Aviation: EU Nationals

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of EU citizens with settled status being requested to demonstrate that status when boarding flights to the UK.

Robert Jenrick: Under the Carriers Liability scheme, carriers have responsibilities to ensure their passengers are properly documented for travel to the UK and may be subject to charges if they allow passengers to travel without a correct document. Details of the scheme are published on gov.uk.For passengers who are citizens of non-visa national countries (such as EU and EEA members states), there is no requirement for a carrier to show evidence of immigration status (such as settled status) to avoid such charges, only that they have a valid travel document.The Home Office maintains regular contact with carriers to ensure they are aware of the requirements of the scheme.

UK Border Force: Patrol Craft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the end of service date is for each of Border Force's Cutters.

Robert Jenrick: The schedule for replacing the Border Force fleet of five cutters and six coastal patrol vessels is, as set out in the refresh of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, framed around the existing vessels approaching the end of their lives and requiring replacement over the next five years.

British Nationals Abroad: Passports

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to passport renewal services for British citizens living overseas.

Robert Jenrick: His Majesty’s Passport Office provides passport services to British nationals across the globe. The vast majority of applicants from overseas can apply online in the same way as when applying from the UK.   However, in some countries, such as where a passport must be held at all times, an application for a British passport can only be made in-person at the nearest Visa Application Centre.HM Passport Office works continually to improve its services. Countries where applications are currently made in-person are kept under review to help identify opportunities that may enable applications to be made online in the future.

Biometric Residence Permits: Publishing

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Biometric Residence Permits were reported as needing correction due to printing errors after delivery in the latest period in which data is available.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is between a biometric residence cards correction being reported and the delivery of a corrected card.

Robert Jenrick: The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Asylum: Temporary Accommodation

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of asylum seekers housed in temporary accommodation in (a) Tamworth district, (b) Lichfield district, (c) Staffordshire and (d) England who have been refused leave to remain in the UK since January 2021 remain in the UK as of 22 February 2023.

Robert Jenrick: The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets Asylum and resettlement datasets – GOV.UK under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition): Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The Home Office publish data on the number of people who have been granted and refused asylum in the UK and this can be found in the Asy_04 tab of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release:Immigration statistics data tables, year ending December 2022 - GOV.UK (List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Public Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23, page 245, for what reason £249,000,000 was reprofiled from 2022-23 into 2024-25; and if he will list which programmes were affected by that reprofiling.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Public Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23, page 245, for what reason £492,999,000 was reprofiled from 2022-23 into 2023-24; and if he will list which programmes were affected by the reprofiling of this money.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Public Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23, page 245, for what reason £1,197,036,000 was surrendered to HM Treasury in respect of the Capital Financial Transactions Budget; and if he will list which programmes were affected by the surrender of this money.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many developers who signed the building safety repairs pledge have signed the developer remediation contract as of 27 February 2023.

Lee Rowley: On 30 January 2023, the Government published the developer remediation contract and wrote to developers asking them to sign the contract by 13 March.The Government is now working with developers to get execution copies prepared and signed by 13 March which developers have signed the contract and which have failed to do so after 13 March.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Public Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to page 245 of the paper entitled Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23: Supplementary Estimates, for what reason £830,166,000 was returned to HM Treasury in respect of the Capital Grant Budget; and which programmes were affected by the return of this money.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Dehenna Davison: As the Ministerial Disability Champion for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), I am proud to lead on ensuring the department delivers our commitments to disabled people , removing the barriers disabled people face and putting disability at the heart of government decision making.DLUHC operate the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS) for all campaigns advertised on Civil Service Jobs. The scheme is designed to give employers the skills, techniques and confidence they need to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff. All Disability Confident Scheme applicants who meet the minimum standard for DLUHC campaigns are invited to attend interview.DLUHC demographic data for applicants is deliberately anonymised so this cannot be used to identify candidates. We are therefore unable to differentiate between candidate types such as those applying on promotion or lateral transfer from within the department. As such, we have provided the success rates of all candidates who declared themselves as having a disability for financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.2020-20212693 candidates declared a disability at application stage and submitted a full application. This was equal to 11% of all applications received.485 of 2693 candidates were invited to interview. This was equal to 18% of applications received for those who declared a disability.77 of 485 candidates invited to interview were successful and offered a role. This was equal to 16% of candidates invited to attend interview who declared a disability.2021-20221680 candidates declared a disability at application stage and submitted a full application. This was equal to 12% of all applications received.517 of 1680 candidates were invited to interview. This was equal to 31% of applications received for those who declared a disability.87 of 517 candidates invited to interview were successful and offered a role. This was equal to 17% of candidates invited to attend interview who declared a disability.

Regional Planning and Development

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the third round of levelling up bids will be invited by his Department.

Dehenna Davison: I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer to Question UIN 140117 on 14 February 2023.

Homelessness

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the demand for homelessness services across the English regions.

Felicity Buchan: Homelessness data for English regions can be found online here.

Homelessness: Children

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department havs to rhelp educe the number of homeless children being placed out of their home borough.

Felicity Buchan: Local authorities must ensure any temporary accommodation placement is suitable and should try to place individuals within their own area. If an authority places a household in temporary accommodation outside of the local area, this should be as a last resort and they should still try to place the household as near as possible to the original local authority.

Sleeping Rough: Females

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to roll out a nationwide annual women's rough sleeping census that is gender informed.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to review the definition of rough sleeping to ensure it recognises women who use the tactic of hidden homelessness.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) gender informed methods and (b) patterns of women’s homelessness are incorporated into data collection on rough sleeping.

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women who are experiencing (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping are receiving the support they need.

Felicity Buchan: We know that women sleeping rough have different experiences and needs to men, particularly relating to violence and abuse, and that female rough sleepers can be less visible than other rough sleepers as a result. It is important rough sleeping services meet the needs of women.As part of our Ending Rough Sleeping Strategy, we committed to the creation of an operational risk assessment tool which will help local authorities to prevent rough sleeping. The tool will be developed to consider various factors that contribute to rough sleeping, including how best to support different cohorts such as women.The tool will enable local networks to allocate Rough Sleeping Initiative and other funding streams appropriately to support tailored and targeted interventions for groups like women sleeping rough who are not known to outreach services.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Intellectual Property Office and Met Office: Consultants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 148569, on Department for Business and Trade: Consultants, what the cost to the public purse of spending on external consultants by (a) the Intellectual Property Office and (b) the Met Office was in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022; and whether any of that spending related to the preparation of funding bids to (A) her predecessor Departments and (B) HM Treasury.

George Freeman: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

5G: Ipswich

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to extend 5G coverage in Ipswich.

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential economic benefits of extending 5G coverage to businesses in Ipswich.

Paul Scully: Ofcom reports on 5G coverage in its Connected Nations reports, but this is not currently available on a constituency or local authority basis. According to Ofcom, (basic) ‘non-standalone’ 5G is available with a high degree of confidence from at least one mobile network operator outside 77% of UK premises.5G connectivity can potentially provide significant economic benefits to businesses across the UK, and our forthcoming Wireless Infrastructure Strategy will articulate a clear vision for how advanced wireless infrastructure, including 5G, can become an integral part of the fabric of the UK's economy and society.

Tech Nation

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason her Department discontinued grant funding to TechNation; and whether her Department is taking steps to help support scaleup tech ecosystems in the 2023-24 financial year.

Paul Scully: We have supported grant funding to Tech Nation since 2017 to accelerate the growth of startups and scaleups across the UK and are grateful for their efforts.We remain committed to our vision for the UK to be the best place to start and grow a digital business. Via the Digital Growth Grant, the government will provide £12 million to help startup and scaleup tech ecosystems in FY23/24-24/25.The Digital Growth Grant was awarded via a competitive process, bringing this public funding into line with the majority of government grants. We announced that we would move to compete the funding on 11 April 2022. Following a period of market engagement and sector consultation, applications were opened in June and bidders notified in September 2022.Barclays Eagle Labs was awarded the Digital Growth Grant because their application achieved the highest score against publicly available criteria when assessed by an independent panel. Their application represented the best value for taxpayers’ money, and will benefit the most startups and scale-ups over the next two financial years.Barclays Eagle Labs will support over 22,000 businesses over the next two years, with at least 80% based outside London. As well as expanding access to Eagle Labs’ existing programmes and mentoring opportunities, to allow for even more businesses to be supported, they will also provide new growth programmes for start-ups and scale-ups, for example:A new accelerator programme which will be targeted at Black-founded tech businesses who are at, or are about to enter, their scaleup stage.The new Scaleup Programme that will provide the leadership teams of technology scaleups with tailored coaching to help address their bespoke challenges and achieve their potential.

Department for Business and Trade

Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the transparency data entitled DIT's ePCS spending over £500 for October 2022, published on 24 February 2023, for what reason £620 was spent on a restaurant on 9 October 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: Department for Business and Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the transparency data entitled DIT's ePCS spending over £500 for October 2022, published on 24 February 2023, for what reason £1,326 was spent on a restaurant on 10 October 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: Department for Business and Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business and Trade: Health and Safety

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.

Nigel Huddleston: Department for Business and Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business and Trade: Written Questions

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to answer Questions 146998, 146999 and 14700 tabled by the hon. Member for Cambridge on 17 February 2023 for answer on 22 February.

Kevin Hollinrake: Department for Business and Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business and Trade: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Nigel Huddleston: Department for Business and Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Africa: Trade Agreements

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is providing support to the African Continental Free Trade Area; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade strongly supports the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We are firmly convinced by the benefits that the AfCFTA should bring, and committed to supporting Africa realise increased levels of intra-regional trade. The UK was proud to be the first non-African country to sign an MoU with the AfCFTA Secretariat in September 2021. This department is working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to support the AfCFTA Secretariat and Member Countries with implementation. We have launched a support programme which is currently delivering on the AfCFTA’s objectives. This department continues to engage with the UK’s business and investors to utilise the AfCFTA to increase intra-African trade and investment, and we are currently working with the AfCFTA Secretariat to support their priority work streams, including the upcoming AfCFTA Business Forum in April 2023.

Music: Exports

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that music exports benefit from new UK trade agreements.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade has engaged extensively with the music sector to inform our trade negotiations and to date we have been able to secure a number of commitments for the music sector. For example, with Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreements (FTA), the music sector will benefit from rules that ensure that data can flow freely between the UK and both countries. Furthermore, the UK has secured commitments from Australia for continued discussions on measures to ensure adequate remuneration for music performers and producers and to tackle online infringement of intellectual property rights such as music piracy. We also secured a commitment from New Zealand to extend its copyright term of protection for authors and producers by 20 years. In our FTA with the EEA EFTA, we secured improved access for British touring artists into Norway supporting touring as live music generates vitally important revenue for UK artists and our economy.

Department for Business and Trade: Minimum Wage

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has contracted work to a business named in round 18 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in the last 3 years.

Kevin Hollinrake: All employers need to pay their staff correctly. Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it’s the law. Under the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme, employers who have previously broken minimum wage law can be publicly named. The Department for Business and Trade follows a clear and thorough process allowing firms to make representations against being named if they meet our published criteria. The Department for Business and Trade does not hold information about the number of named employers who have a contract with a Government Department. However, government contracts over £10,000 are listed on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder. This Department only names employers once HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has concluded its investigations.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with industry stakeholders on taking steps to reduce the carbon footprint of steel manufacturing.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government recognises the vital role that the steel sector plays in our economy. The 2021 Net Zero Strategy reaffirms our commitment to a sustainable steel sector and to continue working with the steel industry on decarbonisation.Whilst decarbonisation pathways for specific sites will be a commercial decision for individual companies, we are working closely with industry stakeholders to support decarbonisation options and reduce the carbon footprint of steel manufacturing.We regularly engage with industry stakeholders to ensure advances towards our Net Zero obligations and to help inform progress to reducing our carbon footprint.

Renewable Energy: Exclusive Economic Zone

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to review the application of employment law to renewable energy installations within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone for seafarers working out of UK ports.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is currently reviewing the application of employment law to renewable energy installations. We will continue to review the needs of the renewable energy sector and its workforce - and take action when needed - as we progress towards reaching Net Zero by 2050.The Seafarers Wages Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament, will mean (when law) that those seafarers who call regularly (at least 120 times a year) at UK ports will be entitled to an equivalent of the National Minimum Wage. This would include those seafarers working on ships to and from offshore renewable platforms.

Arms Trade: Exports

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the press notice entitled New Defence Export Advocate appointed to drive UK defence exports, published on 25 January 2023, what the appointment process was for that role; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Huddleston: This Department recently announced that my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade had appointed my noble Friend Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton in a newly created role as the Defence Export Advocate. The appointment was made in-line with Cabinet Office Direct Appointment procedures. The Defence Export Advocate role requires an individual with credibility in international, political and military circles, and experience of working in defence and on UK defence policy. Lord Lancaster's current role in the House of Lords and his previous experience as a Defence minister and as an active Brigadier in the Army Reserves provides him with this. Lord Lancaster will engage with industry leaders, ministers and other key players both in the UK and overseas to drive forward UK defence exports.

Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the transparency data entitled DIT's ePCS spending over £500 for October 2022, published on 24 February 2023, for what reason £1,038 was spent on a hotel on 21 October 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: The hotel expenditure relates to 5 nights (16-20 Oct 22) accommodation for UK Defence and Security Export’s Deputy Director, who attended Def Expo India.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Feed-in Tariffs: Smart Export Guarantee

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether people with feed-in tariff agreements for existing renewable energy systems are eligible for the smart export guarantee for new renewable energy generating systems.

Graham Stuart: People are eligible provided the new installation meets the eligibility requirements of the Smart Export Guarantee. Should the new installation be an extension to an original Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) installation which takes it over the scheme’s 5MW capacity threshold, the original installation would no longer be eligible for FIT payments.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling people on feed-in tariffs who export more than 50 per cent of their electricity to the grid to receive compensation for electricity exported above the 50 per cent threshold.

Graham Stuart: The Feed-in Tariffs legislation enables householders to move from the “deemed” 50% export rate to receive payment on all the electricity exported to the grid. This would require the householder to install a smart meter to take the export readings.

Feed-in Tariffs: Smart Export Guarantee

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether people on feed-in tariffs will be able to move to the smart export guarantee when their contracts come to an end.

Graham Stuart: Generators will be able to move onto the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) when their Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) contract comes to an end. Under the FIT legislation, generators are already able to opt out of receiving FIT export payments and receive a SEG export tariff.

Natural Gas: Hydrogen

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing incentives to support the delivery of hydrogen blending.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made on the role of hydrogen blending in delivering the government’s 2030 hydrogen production target.

Graham Stuart: The Government intends to reach a decision in 2023 on whether to allow blending of up to 20% hydrogen by volume into gas distribution networks. As a potential off-taker for hydrogen producers, blending may help to bring forward investment and support early growth of the hydrogen economy. The Government recently considered the potential value of blending through a consultation on hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure business models and regulation, and is currently reviewing the submitted responses. The Government is working with industry and regulators to assess the associated costs and risks of blending, which will need to be carefully managed, if permitted.

Energy: Storage

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he made of the potential merits of the use of hydrogen for seasonal energy storage.

Graham Stuart: Hydrogen’s ability to store energy for long periods of time and in large quantities is central to its strategic value to a fully decarbonised energy system and the Government envisages hydrogen storage being a key part of future network infrastructure. Stored hydrogen could cover seasonal lulls in wind or solar generation; offer a flexible fuel source in power generation and provide an alternative to natural gas; heating our homes and workplaces. External analysis showed that long duration energy storage, supplied primarily by hydrogen, could provide between £13 billion and £24 billion in savings to the electricity system between 2030 and 2050.

Energy: Storage

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to develop hydrogen storage business models; and whether his Department plans to develop an energy storage strategy.

Graham Stuart: In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to designing new business models for hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure by 2025. In August 2022, the Government published a consultation seeking stakeholders’ views on high level business model design options for hydrogen transport and storage, including the need for a strategic planning function for the roll out of transport and storage infrastructure. The Government intends to publish a response to the consultation in Q2 2023. The Government recognises the role energy storage plays in both system flexibility and energy security and is considering what other interventions might be necessary in the longer term.

Hydrogen: Transport

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the impact of the timings of the delivery of hydrogen transportation business models on the (a) 2030 hydrogen production target, (b) ambition to deliver two CCS clusters by 2025 and (c) ambition to deliver four CCS clusters by 2030.

Graham Stuart: The British Energy Security Strategy committed to design new business models for hydrogen transport and storage (T&S) infrastructure by 2025 to enable the growth of the hydrogen economy, providing security for hydrogen producers and consumers. These business models will provide investors and developers with the assurance they need to bring forward the required T&S infrastructure. The Hydrogen Production Business Model is also taking a pragmatic approach to supporting limited hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure in the near-term, recognising that limited availability of transport and storage could act as a barrier to the widespread use of low carbon hydrogen.

Solar Power: Croydon Central

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many homes in Croydon Central constituency were installed with solar power panels by 31 January 2023.

Graham Stuart: At the end of January 2023, there were 815 domestic installations of solar panels recorded in Croydon Central constituency.

Carbon Emissions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of local and central government frameworks in achieving the Government's net zero targets.

Graham Stuart: The Government recognises that local authorities can, and do, play a role in driving local climate action, with significant influence in many of the national priorities across energy, housing, and transport, which will be needed to achieve net zero.Through the Local Net Zero Forum the Government is working with local authority representative organisations to discuss key local net zero policy and delivery issues.

Housing: Insulation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to accelerate home insulation measures ahead of winter 2023-24.

Graham Stuart: The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency measures and intends to launch the ECO+ scheme around spring 2023 running until March 2026 to provide further support for households to reduce their energy bills. In 2022 a zero-rate of VAT was introduced on energy efficiency measures, and the Government launched a digitally led service ‘find ways to save energy in your home' (https://www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency). The site provides guidance helping consumers make their homes greener and cheaper to run, supported by a call centre for assistance.

Energy: Medical Equipment

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made on the monthly cost of energy for people with disabilities using medical equipment at home.

Amanda Solloway: The Autumn Statement set out a commitment to work with consumer groups and industry to consider the best approach to consumer protection from April 2024, including options such as social tariffs, as part of wider retail market reforms. The Government is assessing evidence and options and discussing this with stakeholders. As part of this work, the Government is working with disability organisations, considering the costs for disabled people including those with medical equipment and assessing the need for support for disabled people including those using medical equipment in the home.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Graham Stuart: Recruitment data for 2021 and 2022 relates to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as this predates the recent Machinery of Government changes. BEIS operated the Disability Confident Scheme for disabled candidates applying to roles in the Department. The response below applies to recruitment campaigns advertised internally to BEIS and across government as the data requested is not held on externally advertised vacancies. The below figures apply to delegated grade recruitment from Administrative Officer (AO) to Grade 6. In 2021, 306 candidates internal to BEIS applied to roles advertised across the Department only or across government roles on promotion under the Disability Confident Scheme. 89 (29%) of these candidates were invited to interview and 25 (8%) received an offer and were promoted. In 2022, 505 BEIS candidates applied to roles advertised across the department only or across government roles on promotion under the Disability Confident Scheme. 142 (28%) of these candidates were invited to interview and 48 (10%) received an offer and were promoted.

Housing: Insulation

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to accelerate the installation of home insulation measures before winter 2023-24.

Graham Stuart: The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency measures and intends to launch the ECO+ scheme around spring 2023 running until March 2026 to provide further support for households to reduce their energy bills. In 2022 a zero-rate of VAT was introduced on energy efficiency measures, and the Government launched a digitally led service ‘find ways to save energy in your home' ( https://www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency). The site provides guidance helping consumers make their homes greener and cheaper to run, supported by a call centre for assistance.

Carbon Emissions: Air Pollution

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure the net zero strategy aligns with the air quality strategy.

Graham Stuart: In the period leading up to the publication of the Net Zero Strategy, there were numerous cross-government discussions, including on air quality, reflecting the contribution that every sector of the UK economy needs to make to climate change mitigation. As set out in the Strategy, the Government will pursue options that leave the environment in a better state for the next generation by improving biodiversity, air quality, water quality, natural capital, and resilience to climate change where appropriate. Air quality policy is led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero continues to engage regularly with Defra on a range of issues relating to improving air quality.

Local Net Zero Forum

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he has taken to facilitate meetings with the net zero local forum.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will take steps to put the local net zero forum on a statutory footing.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of (a) local government and (b) central Government frameworks to achieve the Government's Net Zero targets.

Graham Stuart: The Government recognises that local authorities can, and do, play an essential role in driving local climate action, with significant influence in many of the national priorities across energy, housing, and transport, which will be needed to achieve net zero. The Net Zero Strategy sets out the Government's commitments to enable local areas to deliver net zero. The Local Net Zero Forum has met three times at official level and held a ministerial level meeting on 09 February. There are no plans to make the Forum a statutory body.

Alternative Fuel Payments

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make the Alternative Fuel Payment available to (a) Gypsy and Traveller households living in encampments and (b) itinerant liveaboardboaters.

Amanda Solloway: The Government is keen to support these households and to ensure that they can receive the Alternative Fuel Payment via the Alternative Fund where eligible. We are currently working to find an acceptable method for these households to provide proof of eligibility, whilst protecting public funds, so they can claim the AFP AF support.

Energy Bills Rebate

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will reach (a) Gypsy and Traveller households living on encampments and (b) itinerant liveaboard boaters.

Amanda Solloway: The Government is keen to support travellers and itinerant liveaboard boaters and we are currently looking at options for how these groups can receive support with their energy costs. The Government understands that some of these households may not be able to demonstrate that their caravan or boat is their main or sole residence, and the Government is looking into how they can support them in line with the current proof of address requirements.

Energy: Prices

Andy Carter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the support provided to households to cover increased energy costs has taken into account the regional variations in the energy price cap.

Amanda Solloway: Ofgem’s licence conditions require that energy charges are cost-reflective in the price cap. As it costs more to distribute energy to some regions than others, there are regional variations in charging to reflect higher costs to serve. The Energy Price Guarantee applies a fixed discount to tariffs, so these small differences continue to exist.

Energy: Planning

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of placing local area energy planning on a statutory footing.

Graham Stuart: The Government is considering the role of local energy plans, working closely with Ofgem as part of its ongoing governance review into local energy institutions, and with other key stakeholders including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and UK Research and Innovation.

Biofuels

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps the Government will take to support the UK biomass sector for sub 100MW operators following the end of the Renewables Obligation Certificates scheme.

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the close of the Renewables Obligation Certificates scheme on (a) 100MW biomass operators and (B) UK biomass generating capacity.

Graham Stuart: The Government is considering the best market arrangements to ensure existing assets are properly valued for their renewable generation.

Cabinet Office

Disinformation

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide the content of the reference to the hon Member for Christchurch contained in the email minutes of the Health Counter Disinformation Working Group of 7 June 2022; for what reason those minutes were stored; and if he will place a copy of those minutes in the Library.

Alex Burghart: Cabinet Office officials are working to collate the necessary information to answer this question. I will write to the hon. Member shortly, and a copy of this letter will be deposited in the House Libraries.Please note that any release of documentation will be subject to classification.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to review the COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19 plan.

Jeremy Quin: The Cabinet Office “COVID-19 Response; Living with COVID-19” publication in February 2022 set out how England would move into a new phase of managing COVID-19. The Cabinet Office has no plans at present to review the strategy.The UK Health Security Agency publishes a number of guidance documents in relation to living safely with respiratory infections, including COVID-19. All guidance is kept under review to ensure our response remains effective.

Death: Age

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the average age of death from all causes, broken down by month, for each of the last 5 years for which figures are available.

Jeremy Quin: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 22 February is attached. UKSA Response to PQ 150483 (pdf, 140.0KB)

Infant Mortality

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many stillbirths were recorded, broken down by month, for each of the past five years for which figures are available.

Jeremy Quin: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 22 February is attached. UKSA Response to PQ 150484 (pdf, 138.5KB)

Public Sector: Food

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential impact the (a) single supplier Buying Better Foods framework and (b) existing supplier landscape will have on levelling up outcomes.

Alex Burghart: This is a national agreement, and will serve customers across the UK. Distribution points will be regionally located to service these needs, providing employment and supporting local communities in all regions.

Public Sector: Food

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what food and drink wholesale companies were consulted on the Buying Better Food Agreement PIN.

Alex Burghart: A cross-section of the food and drink supply chain has been engaged and consulted through CCS market engagement process. These include micro SME producers, who this Conservative Government knows are the backbone of the national food system, to Tier 1 national providers.

Cabinet Office: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Johnny Mercer: I (The Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer MP) was appointed as the Ministerial Disability Champion for the Cabinet Office.I look forward to working with the other Ministerial Disability Champions appointed in each Government Department to represent the interests of disabled people and drive forward progress on disability policy across government.

Treasury

Arms Trade: Export Controls

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fines were issued by HMRC for breaches of the arms export controls in 2022; and what the total value was of those fines.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC’s enforcement outcomes will be published in the UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2022. This will be available on the GOV.UK. website. This will include collated Compound Settlement details for this period. HMRC publicises details of Compound settlements throughout the year. These details are released through Department for International Trade Notices to Exporters. The details for each of those settlements are within each of the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-202303-compound-settlements-issued-for-unlicensed-exports https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-202231-uk-exporters-issued-compound-settlements-for-unlicensed-strategic-exports https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-202212-uk-exporters-fined-for-unlicensed-strategic-exports

Treasury: Disability

Chris Stephens: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

James Cartlidge: HM Treasury is a Disability Confident Leader, the highest of three levels in the Disability Confident Scheme, providing candidates who apply to the department under the scheme with a guaranteed interview if they meet the minimum criteria required for the role. This is available to all candidates, both internal and external, and is supplemented by our commitment to offering reasonable adjustments through the recruitment process. To reach Level 3, Disability Confident Leader, an employer must run through a self-assessment of their disabled employment policies and practices, put this self-assessment up for external validation, produce a plan for encouraging and supporting other employers to become Disability Confident, and undertake to use the Voluntary Reporting framework to publicly report on how they support their disabled staff. Of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the Disability Confident Scheme:299 (12.6% of those applicants) were interviewed in 2021245 (14.6% of those applicants) were interviewed in 2022 Data regarding how many and the proportion of those candidates who were promoted is not centrally held in the requested format and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost. This is because the question of “applying on promotion” is only asked for vacancies advertised internally or across government.

House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Estate: Air Conditioning

Justin Madders: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 129887 on Parliamentary Estate: Air Conditioning, what the average yearly energy cost associated with running (a) air filtration and (b) conditioning systems on the Parliamentary Estate was in the last three years.

Sir Charles Walker: There is no data held on the amount of energy used or energy costs for either the air filtration or conditioning systems on the Parliamentary Estate.